Salesforce to raise $1B in debt to fund acquisitions

Enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.com Inc has announced a plan to offer $1 billion in convertible senior notes due in 2018.

The California-headquartered company said that it would use the proceeds for investments in complementary businesses, services or technologies, working capital and capital expenditures.

During its fourth-quarter conference call last month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had said that it would go ahead with its expansion plans in the year ahead.

In May 2012, the company had fired over 35 employees from its sales and marketing teams in India. It also relocated its India headquarters from Gurgaon to Hyderabad last year.

Salesforce.com is a global enterprise software company, best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) product. Salesforce has also expanded into the social enterprise arena through acquisitions.

Its Q4 (Quarter ended January 31) loss widened from the year ago period as it logged higher stock-based compensation expense, though core earnings and revenue strengthened.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)