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Salesforce.com (CRM) agreed to buy monitoring firm Radian6 for about $326 million in stock and cash, its largest deal ever, continuing the company's aggressive push to keep up with social media trends in its software platform.

The provider of software that manages companies' customer relationships said Radian6's products will help clients track and analyze their outreach efforts while watching what is being said about their brand.

"With Radian6, Salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring," said Marc Benioff, chairman and chief executive of Salesforce. "We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings."

Radian6's technology captures hundreds of millions of conversations each day from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs and other online communities. Its clients include Dell Inc. (DELL), General Electric Co. (GE), Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TAP, TAPA) and Pepsico Inc. (PEP).

Under the agreement, Salesforce.com will pay about $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock for the company, net of cash acquired. The deal also will offer Radian6's founders an additional $10 million in stock and $4 million in cash subject to vesting conditions over the next two years.

Salesforce, considered a pioneer in Web-based software, has been spending heavily to sustain its rapid sales growth and make its platform for businesses into a social environment. The San Francisco company's stock price has soared more than six-fold since November 2008 but has dropped about 20% since reaching an all-time high in December as surging costs and an expensive valuation present chief concerns for investors.

Salesforce shares rose 0.5% to $128.01 in light premarket trading on Wednesday.

The deal is expected to increase Salesforce's fiscal 2012 revenue by $45 million to $50 million. The company now anticipates revenue for the year between $2.075 billion and $2.1 billion.

Conversely, the acquisition is expected to reduce Salesforce's fiscal 2012 earnings guidance by 11 cents a share. The company now forecasts full-year per-share earnings between $1.24 and $1.27.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting fiscal 2012 earnings of $1.38 a share on revenue of $2.07 billion.

Salesforce expects to close the deal in its fiscal second quarter, which ends July 31. The deal is expected to increase revenue in that period by about $5 million, while hurting adjusted earnings by about 8 cents a share.

-By Steven Russolillo, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2180; steven.russolillo@dowjones.com

 (Drew FitzGerald contributed to this report.) 
 

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