Adding to its portfolio of CRM solutions, Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) has entered into an agreement to acquire Responsys (NASDAQ: MKTG), a cloud-based email and social marketing company to be part of the Oracle Marketing Cloud. Under the terms of the deal Oracle will acquire the company for $27 per share in cash or approximately $1.5 billion, net of Responsys’ cash. This represents a 38% premium over its share price the day before the transaction. In response to the annoucement, Responsys shares climbed to $26.90 in morning trading. Oracle Corp.'s stock added 3 cents to $36.63.
Founded in 1998 to sell software to design, execute and manage email campaigns Responsys launched the industry’s first Cloud email marketing platform. By 2004, with a new management team, Responsys started moving towards engaging customers in an interactive dialogues beyond email. In 2005, the company introduced the concept of Cross-Channel Lifecycle Marketing. In 2009, the company introduced the Responsys Interact Suite. But it was only in April 2011, Responsys became a public company.
In a press release Oracle stated "By bringing together Responsys and Oracle Eloqua in the Marketing Cloud, for the first time CMOs that support industries with B2C or B2B business models will be equipped to drive exceptional customer experiences across marketing interactions and throughout the customer lifecycle from a single platform"
“As a part of Oracle, we will only accelerate our efforts,” said Dan Springer, CEO, Responsys and former McKinsey consultant. “We couldn’t be more excited about what this means.”
Customers include Ascena, JetBlue, City Sports, Freshpair.com, Barratts, Build.com, Pictage, Epson, Lenovo, and Lufthansa.
This transaction comes on the heels of Salesforce.com's similar acquisition of Exact Target and will make Constant Contact (Nasdaq: CTCT) a more appealing acquistion. This news will fuel venture capital investment in marketing software companies and contribute to the bubble forming around cloud and marketing CRM companies.
The proposed transaction is subject to Responsys stockholders tendering a majority of the outstanding shares , certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the first half of 2014.
If this happens (and it is very likely to) it will give existing customers yet another way to innovate around the edges of Oracle Siebel.