SuccessFactors acquiring Jobs2web days after SAP deal

IDG News Service - Cloud-based human resources software vendor SuccessFactors said Tuesday it is acquiring Jobs2web for US$110 million, just days after SAP announced it would buy SuccessFactors in a $3.4 billion deal.

Job2web makes on-demand recruitment marketing software that can "attract the very best candidates through social networks," such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter, SuccessFactors said. It will complement SuccessFactors own recruitment applications. The company's customers include Merck, 3M and Pepsico.

SuccessFactors was attracted to Jobs2web for its "incredibly fast" growth rate and strong analytics capabilities, CEO Lars Dalgaard said in a statement. SAP executives have in turn made similar remarks about SuccessFactors. Dalgaard has also been tapped to lead SAP's overall cloud software strategy.

Jobs2web will become a division of SuccessFactors, and its software will be available as stand-alone products as well as "deeply integrated" with SuccessFactors, according to a statement. The acquisition is expected to close this month.

Past acquisitions by SuccessFactors include collaboration vendor Cubetree and Plateau, maker of learning management software. Those deals as well as rapidly rising revenues have made SuccessFactors one of the industry's largest pure SaaS (software as a service) vendors after Salesforce.com.

SAP had been building out an on-demand strategy of its own for several years, but buying SuccessFactors will give that effort a needed "adrenaline shot," SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott said in a recent interview.

Meanwhile, some observers expect SAP's decision to buy SuccessFactors will trigger a run of acquisitions of its peers, which include Taleo, Kenexa and Saba Software.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com