Salesforce is buying Braze for $5.66 billion to put AI behind every marketing text, email and push alert

Salesforce said on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, that it agreed to acquire Braze, the customer-engagement platform behind app messages and marketing for brands like Canva, Instacart and Venmo, for about $5.66 billion in enterprise value, all cash.

The fear hanging over software stocks is that AI agents make a lot of business apps unnecessary. Salesforce's answer keeps being: buy the companies that already sit where the action is. Braze sits at the exact moment a brand pings your phone, and that's the moment AI marketing wants to own. Paying a 58% premium says Salesforce thinks that moment is worth a lot. It also means more of your push notifications may soon be written by an agent that knows exactly when you're most likely to give in to them.

Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Braze, which trades on the Nasdaq as BRZE, for about $5.66 billion in enterprise value. Enterprise value is the price for the whole business. A definitive agreement is a signed contract to buy the company. It still has to close. Holders of Braze Class A shares get $47.50 in cash per share. Reuters puts that at about a 58.1% premium to Braze's last close. A premium is how much extra buyers are paying over the recent stock price. CNBC reports Braze closed at $30.04 on Monday and jumped more than 50% on Tuesday after a brief premarket halt, while Salesforce shares slipped about 1%. Those figures are Salesforce's, Reuters's and CNBC's. The deal has not closed.

Braze, based in New York, sends real-time personalized messages across apps, websites, email, SMS and WhatsApp. SMS is text messaging. Its BrazeAI tool picks content, offers, channels and timing. Salesforce says Braze has about 2,770 customers, including Canva, Dairy Queen, Equinox, Instacart, Urban Outfitters and Venmo. Co-founders Bill Magnuson, the chief executive, and Jon Hyman lead it. Those lines are Salesforce's.

Salesforce says Braze will plug into Marketing Cloud and sit alongside Data 360, Customer 360, Agentforce and SIForce. Marketing Cloud is Salesforce's existing set of marketing tools. The company says "AI is raising the bar for marketers, who now need agentic solutions that can understand customers, make decisions, and act in real time." Agentic, in that sentence, means software that can take the next step, not only draft a message. That line is Salesforce's.

Salesforce expects the deal to close in its fiscal 2028, if Braze shareholders approve it and regulators do too. Salesforce says the agreement does not change its guidance for fiscal 2027. Guidance is the company's own forecast. Reuters reports Salesforce would pay a $300 million termination fee, and Braze would pay $191.4 million if it walks away. A termination fee is the check one side pays if the deal breaks under the contract. Those lines are Salesforce's and Reuters's.

This sits next to Salesforce's other recent AI purchases. CNBC and Reuters report it bought the AI agent platform Fin for about $3.6 billion earlier this year. Reuters reports it bought Informatica for $8 billion last year. Those figures are CNBC's and Reuters's.

Salesforce's Patrick Stokes said "Every interaction is an opportunity to wow your customers." Braze's Bill Magnuson said "we'll continue building as Braze and investing in the Braze community of customers and partners." Those quotations are theirs, as the announcements print them. Reuters notes that investors worry fast AI adoption could erode demand for traditional software.

In plain terms, Salesforce said on Tuesday that it will pay about $5.66 billion in cash for Braze, or $47.50 a share, if shareholders and regulators agree. Braze is the system brands use to ping people in apps, email and texts. The deal is signed and not yet closed. Salesforce's forecast for the current fiscal year stays the same.