SAP Acquisition Target SuccessFactors Makes Its Own Purchase

SuccessFactors Inc. (SFSF), the software company that SAP AG is buying for $3.4 billion, announced its own deal today: the purchase of closely held Jobs2Web Inc. for $110 million in cash.

Jobs2Web makes Web-delivered software that helps recruiters use Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites to hunt for candidates. SuccessFactors didn’t disclose the Jobs2Web agreement when the SAP deal was announced on Dec. 3 because it wasn’t completed yet, said SuccessFactors Chief Executive Officer Lars Dalgaard.

Jobs2Web, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, counts Microsoft Corp., PepsiCo Inc. and Merck & Co. among its customers, Dalgaard said. He declined to disclose Jobs2Web’s sales, saying only that it has about 120 employees and is growing faster than SuccessFactors’ own 77 percent third-quarter revenue growth.

“I’m going to do a lot more with this,” he said, referring to Jobs2Web’s technology.

SAP is acquiring San Mateo, California-based SuccessFactors to expand deeper into cloud-computing software, which is delivered as a subscription service online. Dalgaard will join SAP and lead its cloud efforts after the deal closes in the first quarter, possibly in January, he said.

Saswato Das, a SAP spokesman, said SuccessFactors is still a separate company and it has the prerogative to make deals until the SAP acquisition closes.

SuccessFactors shares rose 5 cents to $39.80 today, trading near the $40 acquisition price. The shares had lost 9.4 percent of their value this year before the deal was announced.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Ricadela in San Francisco at aricadela@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net