Adobe is in late stage negotiations to buy Marketo for more than $5 billion

WorkSpace/YouTube

Marketo CEO Steve Lucas could announce a deal soon.

• Adobe is in late stage talks to acquire marketing software company Marketo, according to a source familiar. A deal could be announced on Thursday or Friday.
• The price tag is upwards of $5 billion.
• Marketo is owned by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners who bought the company for $1.8 billion in 2016.

Adobe is in late stage talks to acquire Marketo and a deal could be announced in the next several days, according to a source familiar with the company.

Marketo, privately held marketing automation company, could sell for more than $5 billion, the source said. Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners bought the company for $1.8 billion in 2016.

Adobe, which is looking to enhance its offerings in the business-to-business space, looked like it would near a deal late last week, according to sources familiar. Reuters first reported Adobe's interest, which Business Insider separately confirmed.

Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Marketo grows Adobe's foothold in business-to-business

The acquisition is highly strategic for Adobe as it increases its foothold in the business-to-business space.

The deal has "competitive implications for Salesforce," analyst Terry Tillman of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey wrote in a note to clients earlier this week.

"Adobe has increasingly become a competitor to Salesforce, especially post its recent acquisition of Magento in the digital commerce market. Given Marketo's market leadership serving the marketing automation needs of enterprise B2B organizations, consolidation of Marketo could create increased competitive dynamics in Salesforce's Marketing Cloud business," Tillman wrote.

Salesforce and Marketo have partnered together for years, though that relationship was complicated in 2013, when Salesforce acquired Marketo competitor ExactTarget for $2.5 billion. ExactTarget eventually became the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Adobe has made several strategic acquisitions in recent months, including the acquisition of the e-commerce platform Magento Commerce for $1.68 billion in May. In April, Abode acquired the computer vision software company Uru, as well as Sayspring, a platform for creating voice-enabled apps.