Salesforce Completes $8 Billion Informatica Acquisition to Power Agentforce AI

Salesforce closes its acquisition of enterprise data management leader Informatica, accelerating its push into autonomous AI agents with enterprise-grade data governance capabilities.

NewDecoded

Published Nov 19, 2025

Nov 19, 2025

3 min read

Image by Salesforce

Major Enterprise Software Consolidation Complete

Salesforce officially closed its acquisition of Informatica on November 18, 2025, six months after announcing the $8 billion deal. The acquisition brings Informatica's comprehensive data catalog, integration, governance, quality, and Master Data Management (MDM) capabilities directly into the Salesforce platform. CEO Marc Benioff emphasized the strategic importance: "You have to get your data right to get your AI right." The integration significantly strengthens Salesforce's Agentforce 360 platform across multiple dimensions. Informatica enhances Data 360 to ensure organizational data remains unified, trusted, and actionable for AI agents. Combined with MuleSoft's application integration capabilities, the deal creates an end-to-end integration solution for enterprise customers. Tableau users will also benefit from richer, context-driven insights powered by Informatica's data management layer.

Metadata Advantage Expands Beyond Salesforce Ecosystem

A critical element of the acquisition centers on metadata expansion. While Salesforce previously leveraged its own ecosystem metadata (objects, fields, relationships), Informatica provides enterprise-wide metadata views across every system. This broader foundation enables more accurate, explainable AI responses by pulling context and lineage from sources beyond Salesforce platforms, reducing hallucination risks for autonomous agents.

Faster Profitability Timeline Announced

Salesforce expects to achieve non-GAAP operating margin and earnings per share accretion within 12 months of closing, a full year ahead of the original timeline announced in May. This acceleration reflects management confidence in integration execution and synergy realization. The company will discuss detailed financial implications and fiscal 2026 guidance during its December 3, 2025 earnings call.

Informatica Maintains Ecosystem Independence

Despite the acquisition, Informatica will continue operating with some autonomy to support its broad partner ecosystem. CEO Amit Walia stated the company will maintain its role as the "Switzerland" of AI-powered data management, continuing to integrate with non-Salesforce platforms. This approach preserves existing customer relationships while allowing Salesforce to rapidly embed Informatica's technology into its own products.

Decoded Take

This acquisition represents Salesforce's fourth major deal since 2018, following MuleSoft ($6.5B), Tableau ($15.7B), and Slack ($27.7B), establishing a clear pattern of building an integrated platform ecosystem rather than standalone CRM tools. The timing is particularly strategic as enterprises face mounting pressure to deploy AI responsibly at scale, with data governance and quality emerging as the primary bottleneck.

By combining CRM, data management, application integration, and collaboration under one vendor, Salesforce positions itself as a comprehensive alternative to cobbling together point solutions from multiple vendors. The accelerated profitability timeline (12 months versus the original 24 months) suggests either aggressive cost synergies or stronger revenue opportunities than initially projected, likely driven by cross-selling Informatica capabilities to Salesforce's massive installed base.

This consolidation may pressure competitors like Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP to strengthen their own data governance offerings or pursue similar acquisitions.