SAP CEO Says No One Is Likely To Acquire Salesforce

Shares of salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM) surged on more than occasion in recent months after the company's name was mentioned in various media reports as a potential acquisition target.

The list of companies that may be interested in acquiring Salesforce, based on media reports, include Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL), Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), among others.

On Wednesday, at least one of those names can be removed from the speculated list of would be buyers, as SAP's CEO Bill McDermott once again ruled out a move to acquire the company.

Related Link: Salesforce Earnings Preview

According to Reuters, McDermott "remains adamant" his company is not interested in acquiring Salesforce. The executive told Reuters that Salesforce's core customer relationship management products have been "commoditized" and are now widely available from SAP and other software firms.

McDermott noted that not only is his company not interested in presented an offer to acquire Salesforce, no one will. When asked how SAP would deal with a Salesforce acquisition by a competing firm, McDermott said that Salesforce's valuation is too high and as such he is not expecting any move from a competing firm.

"I do not expect that to be the case because of the valuation of the company (Salesforce)," McDermott said on Wednesday ahead of his company's annual shareholder meeting. When asked to clarify if anyone else in the industry would acquire Salesforce, he answered flatly with a "no."

McDermott did however state that out of the many rumored buyers, Oracle buying Salesforce would be a positive for his firm.

"It is probably better than any (other) scenario for SAP because it will add more disruption to a commodity business," the CEO said. He clarified that an Oracle-Salesforce combination could force Salesforce customers to reconsider their future options and give SAP a big sales opportunity.