Purchase further cements its move into the hosted CRM market.
On the heels of its recent decision to make a second stab at the hosted CRM market, Siebel Systems announced that it bought Upshot
Corp. in a cash transaction valued at up to $70 million.
Siebel said it will initially sell Upshot’s service in addition to its
own CRM OnDemand service, but that it eventually plans to integrate the
two.
"We are doubling down on CRM," said Siebel Chairman and CEO Tom Siebel.
"The employees of Upshot bring us years of experience that will enable us to
rapidly take a leadership position in the hosted CRM market."
Under the terms of the deal, Siebel will pay $50 million in cash upon
closing, with potentially an additional $20 million to be paid in earn-outs
during 2003 and 2004. The board of directors of each company has approved the
acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions.
Upshot was the first company to offer a hosted CRM solution and it came
up with a series of innovations for the hosted CRM market, including the first
solutions for wireless, offline and Microsoft Outlook integration. Today, Upshot
has over 1,000 customers.
The acquisition is expected to close in
November.
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