Salesforce has acquired cloud data management firm Informatica for $8 billion, marking its most aggressive move yet to deepen its AI stack and enterprise data capabilities.
The all-cash deal, announced Tuesday, values Informatica at $25 per share and signals Salesforce’s intensifying effort to own more of the data infrastructure critical to running agentic AI across enterprise environments. Informatica’s core competencies—data integration, governance, and quality—are expected to directly bolster Salesforce’s AI products, including its flagship Data Cloud and the expanding Agentforce platform.
“Together, we’ll supercharge Agentforce, Data Cloud, Tableau, MuleSoft, and Customer 360,” said Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “This is a transformational step in delivering enterprise-grade AI that is safe, responsible, and deeply integrated with the world’s data.”
A Data Governance Bet for Responsible AI
Founded in 1993, Informatica serves more than 5,000 enterprise customers across 100+ countries and had a market cap of $7.1 billion before the announcement. Its tools provide much-needed control layers for data lineage, metadata management, and cross-platform integration—capabilities that are quickly becoming mandatory in AI-first architectures.
Salesforce’s move reflects a broader industry shift: AI is no longer just about model development—it’s about data readiness, provenance, and regulatory alignment. This acquisition squarely positions Salesforce to support enterprises navigating these challenges.
The company stated that Informatica’s platform will be integrated across Salesforce’s stack to help AI agents act “with intelligence, context, and confidence”—language that points to a growing emphasis on autonomous enterprise agentspowered by real-time, structured data.
Strategic Timing After Initial Denials
The path to the deal was turbulent. In April 2024, rumors of Salesforce eyeing Informatica briefly shook investor confidence. Informatica quickly denied the speculation, but behind the scenes, negotiations evidently continued. Today’s confirmation represents a complete reversal of public messaging from just a year ago.
The acquisition also builds on Salesforce’s September 2024 purchase of Own Company for $1.9 billion, further underscoring its strategy to shore up data security and resilience as foundational components of its AI push.