Salesforce $CRM agreed to acquire Braze, a customer engagement platform, for about $5.66 billion in enterprise value on Tuesday. Holders of Braze Class A common stock are due $47.50 in cash for each share they own under the agreement.
Salesforce expects the transaction to be completed during fiscal 2028, pending the usual closing conditions such as a Braze shareholder vote and necessary regulatory clearances, the company said. Salesforce's fiscal 2028 begins in early February, according to Bloomberg. Salesforce does not anticipate a change to its fiscal 2027 guidance and has not issued guidance for fiscal 2028.
Trading in Braze stock was suspended ahead of the New York market open, according to Bloomberg. Salesforce stock fell about 2.6% in premarket trading.
Braze helps marketers respond to customer behavior in real time and coordinate messages across mobile apps, websites, email, SMS and WhatsApp, the companies said. It has roughly 2,770 customers, among them Canva, Dairy Queen, Equinox, Instacart, Urban Outfitters and Venmo.
"Braze was built to turn live customer behavior into personalized engagement at scale," Patrick Stokes, Salesforce's president of applications and marketing, said in a statement. He said combining that capability with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, CRM and Data 360 will improve each customer interaction.
Bill Magnuson, CEO and co-founder of Braze, said in a statement that the company will keep building as Braze. "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," he said.
Salesforce said Braze's real-time engagement and AI decisioning capabilities are expected to complement four layers of its architecture: Data 360, Customer 360, Agentforce and SIForce. Within Customer 360, Braze is expected to strengthen the cross-channel personalization of Marketing Cloud, the company said.
Braze is led by co-founders Magnuson and Jon Hyman. Salesforce said they would bring expertise in mobile experiences, data engineering and customer engagement to Marketing Cloud.
J.P. Morgan Securities is the exclusive financial advisor to Salesforce, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Covington & Burling are legal counsel. Qatalyst Partners is the exclusive financial advisor to Braze, and Davis Polk & Wardwell is legal counsel.
Braze intends to file a preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the transaction, according to Salesforce. The companies listed risks including failure to obtain regulatory approvals or the shareholder vote, possible competing offers and the chance that expected benefits are not realized.