Oracle Aims at Salesforce in Buying RightNow

24.10.2011
Software giant Oracle is acquiring RightNow Technologies Inc. for $43 a share, or a total of about $1.5 billion, to expand its Internet-based offerings and offer a challenge to customer relationship management powerhouse Salesforce.com.

that RightNow's customer service cloud approach helps organizations work across its call centers, the Web, and social networks.

The RightNow board unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close late this year or early next year, subject to RightNow shareholder approval and regulatory approvals, Oracle said. The price is net of RightNow's cash and debt.

Oracle said it "is moving aggressively to offer customers a full range of Cloud Solutions including sales force automation, human resources, talent management, social networking, databases and Java as part of the Oracle Public Cloud."

According to RightNow's CEO, Greg Gianforte, "RightNow's products add leading customer experience capabilities that help empower companies to interact with and provide a consistent experience to customers across channels." He said his company would be "maintaining and expanding our presence in Bozeman, Montana in order to better service our customers." Oracle is based in Redwood Shores, Calif.

Oracle already has offerings similar to the cloud-based customer relationship management applications that RightNow sells. But rather than just tracking sales cycles in CRM, RightNow has been repositioning itself as a "customer experience management" provider across various platforms. And to that end, Oracle's acquisition launches a direct attack on rival Salesforce.com, which in 2008 added customer-service capabilities with the . Salesforce.com also has embarked on a centered on tying enterprises to the social web.