Salesforce to Acquire Braze for $5.66 Billion to Boost AI CRMSalesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire BrazeSalesforce (CRM) (NYSE: CRM), the world’s #1 AI CRM, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Braze (NASDAQ: BRZE), a leading customer engagement platform, for approximately $5.66 billion in enterprise value. Under the terms of the agreement, holders of Braze Class A common stock will receive $47.50 in cash per share. Braze helps marketers build deeper customer relationships by responding to customer behavior in real time, coordinating personalized experiences across mobile apps, websites, email, SMS, WhatsApp, and more. Its cloud-native, event-streaming architecture is optimized for high-volume, real-time B2C engagement, continuously updating customer profiles and adapting customer journeys while powering trillions of messages and journey actions each year. BrazeAI extends these capabilities with AI-powered optimization across content, offers, channels, and timing, helping marketers make each interaction more relevant. “Every interaction is an opportunity to wow your customers,” said Patrick Stokes, President, Applications and Marketing, Salesforce. “Most of that wow comes from knowing your customer, and responding at just the right moment. Braze was built to turn live customer behavior into personalized engagement at scale. Bringing that capability together with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, CRM, and Data 360 will deliver that wow moment in every customer interaction.” “Braze was built on the conviction that marketers and their creativity are a brand’s ultimate competitive advantage,” said Bill Magnuson, CEO and Co-Founder of Braze. “This past year we shipped at the fastest pace in our history, and BrazeAI is helping marketers get their best ideas live faster. Salesforce shares our commitment to marketers, and we’ll continue building as Braze and investing in the Braze community of customers and partners who built this company with us. Salesforce’s platform will help us innovate faster and together we’ll help marketers around the world build deeper, more lasting relationships with their customers.” AI is raising the bar for marketers, who now need agentic solutions that can understand customers, make decisions, and act in real time. Salesforce is moving to lead that shift, through both organic innovation and acquisitions that meet the standards of our M&A framework: advancing customer success, fitting within our strategy, accelerating innovation, and creating long-term value. Following the close of the transaction, Braze’s real-time engagement and AI decisioning capabilities are expected to complement all four layers of Salesforce’s architecture — Data 360, Customer 360, Agentforce, and SIForce. Within Customer 360, Braze is expected to strengthen Marketing Cloud’s cross-channel personalization, helping brands turn a deeper view of each customer into richer experiences, optimized in real time at the scale needed to reach hundreds of millions of people. These capabilities would advance Salesforce’s vision for a more complete Customer 360 and expand how brands connect with customers across high-volume B2C experiences. Salesforce and Braze also share a commitment to an open, composable approach that gives customers flexibility across the data, tools, and partners they rely on. Together, Salesforce and Braze would help businesses:
Braze serves approximately 2,770 customers, including Canva, Dairy Queen, Equinox, Instacart, Urban Outfitters, and Venmo. Led by co-founders Bill Magnuson and Jon Hyman, Braze would also bring deep expertise in mobile experiences, data engineering, and customer engagement to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Transaction Details The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2028, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Braze’s shareholders and receipt of required regulatory approvals. There is no anticipated change to Salesforce’s FY27 guidance. Salesforce has not guided FY28 and there is no update to long-term targets at this time. Advisors J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Salesforce, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Covington & Burling LLP are serving as legal counsel to Salesforce. Qatalyst Partners is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Braze, and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as legal counsel to Braze. Source: Salesforce media announcement | |