• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

I wrote that Boomers were choking America’s economy. Their responses to me were revealing

2

U.S. says deals with Iran for safe Hormuz transit are prohibited

3

After a judge ordered Trump's name be removed from the Kennedy Center, president says it will 'soon be closed, probably never to open again'

1

I wrote that Boomers were choking America’s economy. Their responses to me were revealing

2

U.S. says deals with Iran for safe Hormuz transit are prohibited

3

After a judge ordered Trump's name be removed from the Kennedy Center, president says it will 'soon be closed, probably never to open again'
Tech

The Microsoft-Salesforce ping-pong game continues

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 8, 2015, 9:12 AM ET
Video Poster

The latest news is in: Microsoft is not considering a purchase of Salesforce, according to a Reuters report published Thursday night.

The reason for Microsoft’s alleged non-interest? With a market cap of $49 billion, Salesforce would be too rich for Microsoft’s blood, according to these sources. Though let’s face it: Microsoft (MSFT), with more than $92 billion in cash, could afford almost anything if it really wanted it.

The report, the latest in a series of back-and-forth stories, cited (what else?) two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. Neither company would comment on any of the stories.

Talk of a potential acquisition of Salesforce.com (CRM) has continued for more than a week, forcing a halt to trading on Salesforce shares on Wednesday.

Bloomberg kicked all this off last week by reporting that Salesforce had hired an investment bank to evaluate possible offers. It upped the ante Tuesday with its story that Microsoft was evaluating a “possible bid” for Salesforce.

This would be huge news for a number of reasons. First, San Francisco-based Salesforce leads the market in sales of rentable business applications, especially customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Microsoft is also in that market, having played catchup to Salesforce for the past decade. A combination of those two companies could thus raise regulatory concerns.

Salesforce pioneered the software-as-a-service model in which companies rent applications from a vendor that handles all the updates and maintenance on its own servers or cloud. Since its founding in 1999, all of the other enterprise software companies including Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP have been rushing to move more of their sales to that model.

Salesforce is hugely successful by many metrics, it has tons of big business customers, but it loses money

Both companies have repeatedly refused comments on the report. Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella added his non-comment to the mix.

Talk has focused mostly on Microsoft as the likely bidder. And the list of companies with the resources to buy Salesforce is short. Two of them seemingly took themselves out of the running. Tuesday, SAP CEO Bill McDermott denied any interest on SAP’s part telling journalists at a trade event. SAP has “never bought something that was impaired and in decline,” the SAP executive said. “We have zero interest in Salesforce.com.”

That came a few days after Oracle co-president Safra Catz said Oracle is likewise uninterested, although Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff is a former Oracle exec, and a long0time friend/rival of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. But Oracle has been known to reverse course in the past.

So the latest is that Microsoft is not interested in Salesforce. Tomorrow could be another story.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Data centers could help determine who wins the next war, and a shortage of compute would be ‘catastrophic,’ retired general says
AIMilitary
Data centers could help determine who wins the next war, and a shortage of compute would be ‘catastrophic,’ retired general says
By Jason MaMay 31, 2026
2 hours ago
Low-budget films from YouTubers beat ‘Star Wars’ heavyweight at the box office — ‘we’ll probably look back at this as a real turning point’
Arts & EntertainmentMovies
Low-budget films from YouTubers beat ‘Star Wars’ heavyweight at the box office — ‘we’ll probably look back at this as a real turning point’
By Lindsey Bahr and The Associated PressMay 31, 2026
4 hours ago
AI will make the ‘tech bro’ class even richer, Nobel laureate Joe Stiglitz says, just as it can take your job
AIJobs
AI will make the ‘tech bro’ class even richer, Nobel laureate Joe Stiglitz says, just as it can take your job
By Catherina GioinoMay 31, 2026
5 hours ago
peter thiel
AIskills
Forget the STEM safety net. Peter Thiel warns AI is a bigger threat to technical roles than to creative thinkers
By Jake AngeloMay 31, 2026
5 hours ago
CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. ‘They’ve been saying that for 20 years’
AIthe future of work
CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. ‘They’ve been saying that for 20 years’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 31, 2026
6 hours ago
Experimental pill nearly doubles survival time for people with advanced pancreatic cancer. ‘I actually started crying’
HealthHealth
Experimental pill nearly doubles survival time for people with advanced pancreatic cancer. ‘I actually started crying’
By Lauran Neergaard and The Associated PressMay 31, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

I wrote that Boomers were choking America’s economy. Their responses to me were revealing
Personal Finance
I wrote that Boomers were choking America’s economy. Their responses to me were revealing
By Nick LichtenbergMay 31, 2026
11 hours ago
U.S. says deals with Iran for safe Hormuz transit are prohibited
Politics
U.S. says deals with Iran for safe Hormuz transit are prohibited
By Jack Wittels and BloombergMay 30, 2026
1 day ago
After a judge ordered Trump's name be removed from the Kennedy Center, president says it will 'soon be closed, probably never to open again'
Law
After a judge ordered Trump's name be removed from the Kennedy Center, president says it will 'soon be closed, probably never to open again'
By Collin Binkley and The Associated PressMay 30, 2026
1 day ago
After Blue Origin rocket explosion, NASA's entire moon exploration program depends on SpaceX for now as Musk eyes blockbuster IPO soon
Innovation
After Blue Origin rocket explosion, NASA's entire moon exploration program depends on SpaceX for now as Musk eyes blockbuster IPO soon
By Jason MaMay 30, 2026
1 day ago
Surging Treasury yields expose a brutal truth: America has no margin for error on its $39 trillion debt
Economy
Surging Treasury yields expose a brutal truth: America has no margin for error on its $39 trillion debt
By Shawn TullyMay 30, 2026
2 days ago
Ex–Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns U.S. tech workers: Competing with China’s grueling 12-hour workdays means sacrificing work-life balance
Future of Work
Ex–Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns U.S. tech workers: Competing with China’s grueling 12-hour workdays means sacrificing work-life balance
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 30, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.