In 2022, Salesforce reported second-quarter earnings of $7.72 billion, surpassing SAP to become the world’s largest enterprise software vendor. Through all of these changes and challenges, Salesforce has remained committed to its mission of delivering a platform that helps companies connect with their customers in a whole new way.
Tableau started as a Ph.D. dissertation by Chris Stolte under Professor Hanrahan. This was the culmination of his six years of research work in the analysis of multidimensional data at Stanford. Nor was he a stranger to the world of visualization, as prior to Tableau, Chris had founded BeeLine Systems, a mapping and visualization software that would then be bought by Vicinity Corporation.
Professor Pat Hanrahan currently serves as a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford and has been covering the field of visualization and computer graphics since the late 90s.
Christian Chabot, the company’s third founder, who would go on to become Tableau’s CEO and eventually its chairman, was in the dissertation room where Stolte discussed his research. This was not by chance, as Christian was BeeLine Systems’ co-founder, together with Chris Stolte.
From this academic start came software that would be used by Fortune 500 companies and millions of people in the corporate and not-for-profit world, Tableau.
In 2013, Tableau went public with an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which raised more than $250M. This 10-digit figure is perhaps not surprising when considering that as of 31 December 2012, Tableau could count on more than 10,000 customers and had achieved an 8-digit profit for the third year in a row.
Salesforce’s 2019 acquisition of Tableau for $15.7 billion was hailed as a highly strategic move for the company, and a significant step towards fulfilling its goal of providing a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the customer. With this purchase, Salesforce not only gained access to an enthusiastic data community but also acquired an enterprise-standard visualization tool. By integrating Tableau with its existing platform and technology, such as Einstein, the joint company is in a position to offer a powerful data stack for enterprises. The decision to acquire Tableau was made after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff heard so much positive feedback from customers that he decided to OK the deal. The following figure shows the Magical Quadrant for Business Analytics Platforms.
Figure 1.2: Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Analytics Platforms 2021
Tableau has continued to run as a separate business in many ways after the acquisition, but the products have been ever more tightly integrated. In 2022, Tableau celebrated 10 years as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence platforms.