Microsoft Not Interested In Salesforce Takeover

The rumour mill surrounding the possible acquisition of cloud CRM giant Salesforce.com has taken an unexpected twist with a report that Microsoft is not interested in making an offer.

It comes after Redmond was reported earlier this week to be mulling a takeover approach, in what would have been a truly remarkable turnaround for their previously toxic relationship.

Too Expensive?

It was last month that reports first circulated that Salesforce was an acquisition target for an unnamed suitor, prompting the company to consult its financial advisors. Oracle, Microsoft and SAP were identified as potential buyers, in what would have been a major shakeup of the enterprise cloud market.

And despite a Bloomberg report to the contrary earlier this week, it seems that Microsoft maybe not that interested in the CRM specialist after all.

Reuters quoted two two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as saying that Microsoft is not currently is not weighing an offer for Salesforce.com.

And it seems that price may have been a factor.

Salesforce is currently valued at a whopping $46bn (£30bn), and Redmond considers that current market valuation too expensive, one of the people reportedly said. The other source said that Microsoft could review a bid for Salesforce in the long term.

The sources apparently asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Both companies are not making any official statements on the matter.

No SAP Interest

And it seems that Microsoft is not the only potential suitor to be lukewarm about acquiring Salesforce. German software specialist SAP is another company mooted as a potential buyer, despite it publicly ruling out any major acquisitions.

Indeed, it reiterated that stance earlier this week, when SAP chief executive Bill McDermott reportedly said that his company has “zero interest” in its software rival.

“We have never bought something that was impaired and in decline,” he said.

According to Reuters, McDermott claimed that Salesforce’s cloud computing software was becoming commoditised.

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