Salesforce has withdrawn from discussions for the potential takeover of Informatica, according to sources close to the matter.
The reports claim that the two tech firms have been unable to agree on terms, with an unidentified Bloomberg source stating that the disagreement is due to price.
The apparent breakdown in talks comes just over a week after news broke that Salesforce was deep in discussions to acquire the global data integration platform provider.
At the time, Informatica's shares were trading at $38.48, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Salesforce was aiming for a price in the mid-$30s a share, which would have made the acquisition one of the most significant in the company’s history.
While the reported cooling off seems a bit abrupt – particularly when you consider that the Wall Street Journal was, at one point, anticipating that a deal could be agreed before the end of last week – there have been criticisms within the CX space about the proposed merger.
A Doomed Deal?
Chief among those who criticized Salesforce’s potential acquisition of Informatica, was Gaurav Dhillon – the current Chief Executive of Software Company SnapLogic and Co-Founder of Informatica – who described the deal as a "real step backward" for Salesforce.
Dhillon also expressed concerns about how the merger would affect Informatica's users, foreseeing a "rocky road ahead" due to significant overlap in integration products.
The former Informatica man’s primary concern with the merger revolved around the coexistence of Informatica's technology and MuleSoft, the integration platform Salesforce acquired for $6.5 billion in 2018.
Indeed, Dhillon predicted that integrating a new system alongside MuleSoft could take years:
With two disparate platforms, Salesforce now has to navigate merging MuleSoft’s technology with Informatica’s technology – a complex, time-consuming project that will likely take more than five years to complete.
Dhillon wasn’t the only person with misgivings about the merger, with both companies having suffered share price drops since the news broke that the pair were in discussions.
At the time of writing, both Salesforce and Informatica have recovered somewhat, but are still down 4.8 percent and 6.7 percent in the past week respectively.
