Leaked Emails Suggest Twitter Was Never On Salesforce's M&A Radar

Salesforce.com, inc. CRM was looking at more than a dozen potential acquisition targets...a list that didn't include Twitter Inc TWTR.

The Wall Street Journal reported Salesforce sent an internal slide presentation to its board members, which includes former Sectary of State Colin Powell.

Powell's e-mails were hacked and published by DCLeaks, an organization of "hacktivists" that targets government officials and prominent individuals.

A 60-page slide presentation titled "M&A Target Review" presented the case for acquiring 14 different companies, which included Adobe Systems Incorporated ADBE and Pegasystems Inc. PEGA.

Related Link: False Hope: The Street Believed Twitter & Salesforce Rumors For Too Long

Other names in the presentation include Demandware, a company which Salesforce ended up acquiring for $2.8 billion. LinkedIn Corp LNKD was also listed, but the social media company ultimately sold itself to Microsoft Corporation MSFT instead.

The e-mail obtained by Powell was sent prior to a board meeting on May 20. It's possible the company began exploring an acquisition of Twitter later on. A Pegasystems spokesperson confirmed with WSJ it has never had any discussions with Salesforce regarding an acquisition even though it was listed as a potential target.

A Salesforce spokesperson also told WSJ that Adobe's inclusion in the list of potential targets appeared only as a "benchmark."

A separate e-mail sent to Powell on July 26 from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff expressed his excitement after acquiring Quip for $582 million.

"I'm very excited about this acquisition," Benioff wrote. "We have been after this for three years."