By Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal, Beagle Research Group

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Salesforce.com recently announced an offering to raise $500 million. [Photo courtesy Tracy Olson / Flickr: http://sn.im/money-tracyolson

So the news is that Salesforce.com is raising $500 million so that it can go on a buying spree. Half a billion isn’t what it used to be, but it can still buy a good weekend in Vegas or a nice stable of emerging-technology companies.

What would I do with that much money? Even assuming Vegas is off the list, I still have a few ideas.

First things first: Why borrow half a billion when you’ve already got over a billion in cash and marketable securities on your balance sheet? The question answers itself: You borrow when you can get money at attractive rates and the best time to be a borrower is when you’re in a financial position secure enough to walk away from a middling deal. In my humble opinion, the company’s borrowing the money simply because it can — and because coming out of a recession is a nice time to pick up some bargains.

A “bargain” here would be an emerging company with innovative intellectual property and a weak balance sheet.

So what is it likely to do with the cash? Find out after the jump.

Read on… »

This morning I interrupted my usual CRM news and magazine story writing to tune into the live Webcast of the Consumer Electronics Show keynotes. Gary Shapiro, the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, kicked off the event with an industry address. He set the stage with some dreary statistics about 2009. “Many of us will look back at 2009 as the most challenging year of our lives,” he said.

In 2009 the consumer electronics industry saw:

• Overall revenue drop for the first time in some 20 years, and
• Industry revenues drop 7 percent as reported at last January’s CES show.

Despite plummeting revenues, the desire for consumer electronics remains high:

• Total unit sales grew 10 percent over 2008,
• A 2009 holiday forecast found that four out of five Americans wanted a tech gift this holiday. This is the highest figure in history.

“Even though we sold more devices, it still makes 2009 a year no one wants to repeat,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro then quoted American computer scientist Alan Kay, saying, “The best way to predict the future is invent it.” Innovation is not only a goal, the CEO and President said, but it’s evident in the exhibitors and products displayed at the year’s event. The trade show floor welcomed a record number of new exhibitors (300) and out of the tech zones, 12 out of the 20 are new.

This record amount of innovation stems from many sources, Shapiro said. Many come from entrepreneurial companies, but more notably, he added, “The harsh recession creates winners and losers and creates the necessity to break  out and do something different.” Companies are embracing the attitude, “Innovate or Die.”

“If you believe in innovation, dont sit by and watch, join the movement,” Shapiro said. New CEA programs are making that increasingly possible, he added, and then he introduced three CEA initiatives bridging the gap between consumers and vendors. The list of three and additional details are after the jump…

Read on… »