An update to yesterday’s piece: many institutional investors are not down with the notion of Salesforce buying Twitter:
Katie Benner and Leslie Picker, Salesforce Shareholders Besiege Possible Twitter Deal
The investors made their concerns known to Mr. Benioff. In emails and other communications, the shareholders told the chief executive and Salesforce’s investor relations team that they disapproved of a tie-up with Twitter.
The effort was led by Fidelity Investments, the mutual fund firm that is Salesforce’s largest shareholder, with about 14 percent of the company. At least one Fidelity portfolio manager emailed Salesforce about the deal being a bad idea, according to people briefed on the correspondence, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the communications were private. Other Salesforce investors, including hedge funds, said they would sell the company’s stock, according to two people with knowledge of the communications.
By this Wednesday, when Mr. Benioff spoke at an investor meeting at a San Francisco hotel, his language about any deal had turned conciliatory and defensive.
“I read all of your notes, you probably know that,” Mr. Benioff said. “I also read your emails. And as I digest all of that information, this is actually the №1 thing that has been on my mind. In some cases we have been unusually surprised and we have had to do a reset.”
And if Salesforce backs out, that would be the last of the internet titans kicking the tires.
I still think there’s an angle for Amazon, and Bezos is very unpredictable. And he doesn’t listen to investors.
from Stowe Boyd http://www.stoweboyd.com/post/152295167217
