Marc Benioff, the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), has a new book coming out in November: Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Companyand Revolutionized an Industry
I actually got an advance copy of it -- and it is awesome. In great detail he provides the strategies for building a game-changing company. And based on Salesforce.com's latest earnings report, the momentum seems unstoppable, despite the recession and tight information technology (IT) budgets.
Revenues increased by 20% to $316.1 million, as the company saw an increase of 32% in new customers to 63,200. Net income was $21.2 million, or $0.17 per share (compared to $10 million, or $0.08 per share in the same period a year ago). Cash flows came to $46 million. In total, there is more than $1 billion in the bank.
By far, Salesforce.com is the leading company in cloud-computing. Essentially, the techonology leverages the Internet to deliver business applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP).
Cloud-computing is a disruptive force in the software industry because of advantages like timely updates, easier integration and lower costs. In fact, Salesforce.com is making significant inroads in winning business against giants like Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
What's more, with its big cash hoard, Salesforce.com has been making some strategic investments. For example, the company recently invested in Practice Fusion, which develops web-based applications for patient health records.
All in all, Wall Street likes the results. In early trading, the shares of Salesforce.com are up over 13% to over $52.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The IPO Primer and The Complete M&A Handbook
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