Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Braze for approximately $5.66 billion in enterprise value, the company said in a statement. Shareholders holding Class A common stock will receive $47.50 per share in cash, a price that sent Braze shares up more than 50% on the announcement day from a previous close of $30.04.
The deal fits within Salesforce's strategy of advancing customer success through both organic growth and acquisitions, the company said. Braze operates a cloud-native platform whose event-streaming architecture targets high-volume, real-time consumer engagement, keeping customer profiles continuously updated and handling what the company says amounts to trillions of messages and journey actions annually.
Approximately 2,770 customers use Braze, among them Canva, Dairy Queen, Equinox, Instacart, Urban Outfitters and Venmo. Braze will continue operating under its own name following the deal's close, with Salesforce committing to ongoing investment in the Braze customer and partner community.
Patrick Stokes, president of applications and marketing at Salesforce, said Braze was designed to convert live customer behaviour into personalised engagement at scale, and combining it with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, CRM and Data 360 would improve customer interactions. Marketing Cloud would be strengthened by Braze's capabilities, enabling brands to deliver richer experiences optimised in real time at the scale required to reach hundreds of millions of people, Salesforce said.
Both companies said they are committed to an open, composable architecture giving customers flexibility in their choice of data, tools and partners. Braze's AI product, BrazeAI, offers optimisation across content, offers, channels and timing.
In its fiscal second quarter, Braze recorded U.S. revenue of $125.6 million, a 27.2% year-over-year rise, and international revenue of $101.7 million, up 24.9%. Bill Magnuson, chief executive and co-founder of Braze, said that in the past year the company shipped product at the fastest rate in its history, and that BrazeAI is helping marketers bring ideas to market more quickly.
Analysts reacted swiftly to the announcement. Wells Fargo, Stifel, Piper Sandler and Loop Capital all downgraded Braze shares. Stifel moved Braze to 'Hold' from 'Buy' and raised its price target to $47.50 from $35, describing the offer as the highest price at which the stock has traded since March 2024.
Loop Capital analyst Yun Kim moved Braze to 'Hold' from 'Buy' and raised the price target to $47.50 from $40. On Salesforce, Jefferies kept its rating at 'Buy' with a price target of $300, saying the deal could reinvigorate Salesforce's Marketing and Commerce Cloud business and improve its competitive position relative to Adobe.
Evercore ISI left its Salesforce rating at 'Outperform' with a price target of $290, though it warned that Salesforce's acquisition pace could unsettle investors focused on value. Salesforce shares fell roughly 1% on the announcement day.
Closing the deal requires Braze shareholder approval and regulatory clearance, with Salesforce placing the expected completion in its fiscal year 2028. Salesforce said there is no anticipated change to its FY27 guidance as a result of the deal, and it has not updated its long-term targets. Months before this deal, Salesforce announced a separate agreement to acquire Fin, an AI customer service platform, for about $3.6 billion.
Official statements: Salesforce
Reporting: iTnews, Yahoo Finance, CNBC
Written by Pick & Scroll News from the reporting and documents linked above.
