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.

Continue reading Salesforce.com's super quarter

Salesforce.com's super quarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I love this news item, and I think shareholders of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) -- parent company of BloggingStocks -- should, too. Time Warner wants to allow customers the opportunity to buy titles from the media conglomerate's movie catalog via an on-demand DVD protocol. So, if a movie isn't currently available on retail shelves, you could still order it. The title is copied to a disc and sent off to the consumer. No fuss, no mess, no inventory to manage. It's great!

I think on-demand DVD manufacturing needs to be exploited in a bigger way. It isn't new, but you don't really hear about it. Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) on-demand publishing arm, CreateSpace, use it as a way of selling content without carrying inventory. I'd have to believe that if such services were promoted on an extensive basis, they might catch on.

Continue reading Time Warner explores on-demand DVD model -- will it work?

Time Warner explores on-demand DVD model -- will it work? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), a cable/broadband entity that competes with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH), reported earnings for the fourth quarter on Wednesday. Adjusted revenues increased 7%, and earnings per share jumped 35% to $0.27. Not a bad performance, and in fact, earnings beat estimates by four pennies according to this source.

Perhaps the biggest piece of news in the release is the increase in free cash flow for the full fiscal year. That jumped 56% to $3.7 billion, driven in part by a decrease in capital spending. I liked reading that management intends on focusing on free cash flow. It better, because it's going to be a challenging environment for the cable business, and the company committed itself to raising its dividend by 8%. On the flip side, though, as has been noted in a couple news reports, Comcast stated in the release that it doesn't feel like buying back stock at the moment. That won't be comforting to shareholders who have seen their shares hovering closer to a 52-week low than a 52-week high.

Continue reading Comcast delivers the cash in 2008 and increases its dividend -- is it a buy?

Comcast delivers the cash in 2008 and increases its dividend -- is it a buy? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On its face, the fiscal fourth quarter was lackluster for Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU). There was a net loss of $61.9 million, or $0.19 per share. Revenues were up 10.5% to $478.2 million.

But, then again, this is a seasonly slow quarter. Plus, the guidance made up for things. That is, Intuit sees next quarter's revenues at $480 million to $492 million, with a net loss of $0.11 to $0.14 per share.

Actually, Intuit is in the midst of a major transition - from shrink-wrap software to on-demand offerings. In fact, the company is pushing aggressively into free products (which are monetized by add-ons and premium upgrades). For example, Intuit plans to launch FinanceWorks, which is a powerful web-based financial planning platform. The goal is to migrate users to services like bill payment and online banking.

Intuit is also getting traction with its recent acquisitions, such as with ECHO and Homestead. In fact, with Homestead, there's a big opportunity to cross-sell websites to Intuit's four million QuickBooks user base.

For the long haul, Intuit wants to invest more resources into two main categories: global and healthcare. Actually, the company is looking to Asia for growth opportunities.

And, so far in today's trading, Intuit's shares are up 4.7% to $31.46.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Intuit's new mantra: free originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

By all accounts, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is on its way to being a legendary software company. Based on the latest quarterly results, announced Wednesday after the close, the revenues are on track to reach $1 billion.

The company also continues to grow at a blistering rate. In Q2, revenues surged 49% to $263.1 million. Net income came to $10 million, or $0.08 per share. Actually, for the past 12 months, Salesforce.com generated about $270 million in operating cash flow. In all, there is $823 million in the bank.

Q2 saw the addition of roughly 4,100 new customers for a total of 47,700. What's more, Salesforce.com continues to get traction with its existing major customers, such as Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Citi (NYSE: C) and Canon. It certainly helps that the company has a highly customizable platform (known as force.com).

Something else: Salesforce.com announced the acquisition of InStranet, which develops knowledge-based management systems for call centers. There has been much demand for such offerings, so why not buy a leading company in the space? Salesforce.com considers the market opportunity to be about $3 billion.

The issue? Well, the deal will mean a 5 cents charge per share for the full-year.

That's not appetizing to Wall Street. So far in today's trading, Salesforce.com's shares are down 15% to $55.31.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Investors selling Salesforce.com (CRM) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Before starting Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) in 1999, Marc Benioff was already a veteran of the traditional software world. He spent 13 years at Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and even had a stint at Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), where he programmed in assembler language. In fact, he started a software company - Liberty Software - when he was only 15 years.

But, of course, Salesforce.com is his biggest achievement and so far it has disrupted the industry. Basically, he has evangelized the virtues of using the Web to deliver software, as well as used the subscription business model rather than the up-front licensing fees. Benioff calls this "The End of Software."

Well, last week, Salesforce.com reported its Q1 results. For the most part, the growth is continuing apace. Revenues surged 52% to $248 million and operating cash flow came to $84 million. There were 2,600 new customers, with the total at 43,600.

A key to success has been integration with various platforms such as Microsoft's NASDAQ: MSFT). Salesforce.com also recently bolstered its partnership with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) by seamlessly integrating its Office-like apps.

Another key is Salesforce.com's extensive infrastructure that handles huge amounts of transactions. The company plans to build its first international data center in Singapore.

The growth of on-demand software is surging in Asia. According to a Springboard Research report, the market is expected to reach $1.16 billion by 2010, representing a 66% annual growth rate. Salesforce.com is likely to be a big beneficiary of this major trend.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Salesforce.com: On the Orient Express originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 May 2008 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Human resources can be kind of boring (except when there are lawsuits). And it is often an area that is largely neglected in terms of the budget. Yet this is not stopping venture capitalists from investing in the space.

The latest funding in the space is a $22.5 million round for Authoria, which "provides talent management solutions," according to the company's website. It's the firm's fifth round. The investors include Horizon Technology Finance, Velocity Financial Group, Menlo Ventures, Austin Ventures and Van Wagoner Capital Management.

It does help that Authoria takes an on-demand approach. That is, the technology is delivered via the Web, which tends to be cheaper and easier. More importantly, it's a red-hot trend in tech, as seen with Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) and Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO).

It's not clear if Authoria is profitable, but the company says that its bookings surged 40% for the first half of this year.

With a plethora of IPO filings for on-demand software - which include companies like NetSuite - we'll probably see Authoria take the same path at some point.

If you want to check out other venture capital fundings, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Human resources draws VC funding as Authoria gets $22.5 million originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Traditional software companies are scrambling to deal with the Internet. Take Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE), which is ramping its on-demand offerings.

In fact, today the company announced that it has snapped up Virtual Ubiquity. The company operates Buzzword, which is a web-based word processor and collaboration platform. The financial details were not disclosed.

It certainly helped that Buzzword has adopted a variety of Adobe technologies, such as Flash and Flex. Interestingly enough, Adobe invested in the firm a year ago.

So is Adobe trying to take on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Office? Actually, I don't think so. Hey, if anything, Adobe understands Microsoft very well - and also realizes that there is still a lot of opportunity in the graphics/design market. Instead, I think Adobe is trying to use new technologies to improve its core strengths.

I had a chance to talk to Frank Zamani, who is the CEO of Caspio (which operates an on-demand web application platform). According to him:

"As Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL)'s Larry Ellison says, in the future there will be only a handful of very large software companies. Adobe is certainly going to be one of them. According to Triple Tree, the SaaS (software as a service) market by 2009 will be 40% of the software market. The question is whether Adobe is going to leverage its fantastic brand name to expand into SaaS. This acquisition demonstrates that they are thinking in that direction. It will be interesting to watch if they will stick to document management or embark on a broader SaaS strategy."

Also, if you want to check out other acquisition deals, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Adobe gets buzzed-up for on-demand originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Intacct: Gunning for billions in on-demand services originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.