Salesforce Made an Offer to Acquire Zoho Before Turning to Google

"Certainly the enemy of my enemy is my friend, which makes Google my best friend"

While there’s plenty of buzz surrounding the Google Apps - Salesforce marriage, Zoho CEO has made an interesting revelation today.

According to Sridhar Vembu of Zoho, Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff tried to acquire Zoho but that deal didn’t happen and Salesforce therefore moved to Google Apps - "He offered repeatedly to acquire Zoho outright, which we rejected."

Had this deal been closed, Salesforce may have ended up competing with their new friend (Google) because Zoho suite includes almost everything that is offered in Google Apps.