Salesforce Offers $5.66 Billion for Braze’s Real-Time Marketing Tools

Braze shareholders are being offered $47.50 a share in cash, about 58.1% above the stock’s last close. The $5.66 billion deal puts a real-time messaging business in the path of Salesforce’s push to make artificial intelligence a bigger part of its software. Braze shares jumped more than 50% in early trading, while Salesforce’s fell. ¹

The deal would add Braze’s tools to Salesforce’s customer software, especially Marketing Cloud. Braze helps brands such as Canva, Dairy Queen, Instacart and Venmo send messages, offers and other content across channels, then adjust them as customers respond. Its software serves about 2,770 customers. Salesforce says those tools can strengthen its AI offering, as investors question whether AI could reduce demand for traditional software. ^1,4

Those 2,770 customers give Salesforce a foothold in fast-moving, consumer-focused marketing, where a message can change with someone’s behavior in an app or on a website. Braze’s revenue grew 26.2% to $227.2 million in its latest quarter, while Salesforce reported $11.3 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 11% year over year. But the purchase will use cash that Salesforce could spend elsewhere, and combining the two platforms will take work. Salesforce says the acquisition will not change its fiscal 2027 forecast. ^5,8

That unchanged forecast leaves the next major step with Braze shareholders and regulators, whose approval the deal requires. Salesforce expects the transaction to close in fiscal 2028, which starts in February 2027. The companies have also set fees if either side walks away: Salesforce would pay $300 million, while Braze would owe $191.4 million. ^1,5