CRM Stock Falls: Salesforce Strikes $5.66B Braze Deal To Strengthen AI Marketing Push

• Braze serves approximately 2,770 customers, including Canva, Instacart, Urban Outfitters and Venmo.
• Braze reported 26.2% year-over-year revenue growth to $227.2 million in its latest quarter.
• The acquisition is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal 2028, with no anticipated change to its fiscal 2027 guidance.

Salesforce Inc. (CRM) shares fell over 3% in Tuesday’s premarket, while Braze Inc. (BRZE) surged more than 50%, after Salesforce announced a definitive agreement to acquire the customer engagement platform for approximately $5.66 billion in enterprise value, expanding its real-time marketing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Under the agreement, holders of Braze Class A common stock will receive $47.50 per share in cash.

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The acquisition aims to strengthen Salesforce's Marketing Cloud business by combining its customer relationship management and data platforms with Braze's ability to respond to consumer behavior in real time.

As of this writing, CRM stock was trading more than 3% lower and was among the trending tickers on Stocktwits. Meanwhile, BRZE stock surged over 51% in premarket trading.

What Braze Brings To Salesforce

Braze provides software that uses real-time customer data to automate and target marketing campaigns across apps, websites, email and messaging platforms. It uses real-time customer activity to update profiles and adjust marketing campaigns

The company’s BrazeAI tools, meanwhile, automate decisions about content, offers and when and where messages are delivered. 

Salesforce plans to integrate Braze’s real-time marketing technology with its existing customer data and AI platforms, including Data 360, Customer 360 and Agentforce.

Braze Revenue Growth Tops 26%

Braze serves approximately 2,770 customers, including Canva, Instacart, Urban Outfitters and Venmo. The company’s revenue rose 26.2% year over year to $227.2 million in its fiscal second quarter (Q2), up from $180.1 million a year earlier, driven primarily by new customers, upsells, and renewals.

Its operating loss narrowed to $18.1 million from $38.8 million, reflecting improving profitability despite continued losses.

For comparison, Salesforce reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $11.3 billion, up 11% year over year. The acquisition would therefore add a smaller, faster-growing customer engagement business to Salesforce's broader software portfolio.

What Comes Next For Salesforce

Salesforce expects the transaction to close in fiscal 2028. The company said it does not anticipate changes to its fiscal 2027 guidance. 

The SaaS giant, however, has not provided fiscal 2028 guidance or updated its long-term financial targets in connection with the announcement.

Investors will be watching the approval process and how Salesforce integrates Braze's real-time engagement technology into its existing marketing and AI products.

What Retail Thinks About CRM Stock

On Stocktwits, retail investors’ sentiment around CRM stock remained ‘neutral’, muted from ‘bullish’ a day ago. Sentiment around BRZE stock also remained in the ‘neutral’ zone.

So far this year, BRZE stock has fallen nearly 8%, while CRM stock has slipped more than 4% over the same period.

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