TNB Tech Minute: Salesforce Boosts AI Chops With $8 Billion Informatica Buy
02:34 Share

At GMC, ignorance is the furthest thing from bliss. Bliss is research, testing, testing the testing, until it results in not just one truck, but a whole lineup.

Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Tuesday, May 27th. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal.

Cloud software company Salesforce has struck a roughly $8 billion deal to buy data management firm Informatica. The deal, which the journal exclusively reports, is aimed at boosting Salesforce's AI capabilities. And it's among the company's biggest acquisitions since it paid $28 billion for Slack in 2021. Salesforce's CEO has focused recently on pivoting attention to AI agents that help clients manage customer service and other needs.

Elsewhere, Tesla is struggling to cash in on Europe's growing electric vehicle market, where Chinese rivals are expanding. New data from Europe's automaker industry group indicates Tesla sales plunged nearly 53 percent across the European Union in April. It's the fourth straight month of contraction from last year.

Passenger car registrations overall in the EU fell 1.2 percent in the first four months of the year. It also comes as Tesla continues to face stiff competition from Chinese competitors like BYD, which sold more EVs than Tesla in Europe for the first time last month. And as the company is grappling with backlash from CEO Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration.

And finally, President Trump's media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, plans to raise about $2.5 billion from institutional investors to buy Bitcoin. It's the latest entanglement of the president's private business ventures and cryptocurrency markets. The company said today it plans to issue and sell $1.5 billion of the company's stock and $1 billion in convertible debt to 50 investors. It plans to use the funding to create a Bitcoin treasury.

For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Wednesday's Tech News Briefing podcast.