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UPDATE: Adobe confirmed Thursday that it would acquire Marketo for $ 4.75 billion.
Adobe is in the negotiation phase for the acquisition of Marketo and an agreement could be announced in the coming days, according to a source close to the company.
Marketo, a private marketing automation firm, could sell for more than $ 5 billion, the source said. Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners bought the company for $ 1.8 billion in 2016.
According to familiar sources, Adobe, which seeks to improve its business-to-business offerings, seems to be close to the end of last week. Reuters first reported the interest of Adobe, which Business Insider has confirmed separately.
Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Marketo increases Adobe's presence in business-to-business
This agreement, which was first introduced by CNBC, is highly strategic for Adobe as it increases its presence in the business world.
The agreement has "competitive implications for Salesforce," SunTrust analyst Robinson Humphrey's Terry Tillman wrote in a note to customers earlier this week.
"Adobe has become more and more of a Salesforce competitor, especially after its recent acquisition of Magento in the digital commerce market, given Marketo's leadership in serving business marketing automation needs," writes Tillman.
Salesforce and Marketo have been collaborating for years, although this relationship was complicated in 2013, when Salesforce acquired Marketo's competitor, ExactTarget, for $ 2.5 billion. ExactTarget has finally become the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Adobe has made several strategic acquisitions in recent months, including the acquisition of the $ 1.68 billion Magento Commerce ecommerce platform in May. In April, Abode acquired the computer vision software company Uru, as well as Sayspring, a platform for creating voice applications.
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