Taleo eyes deals to boost market share: CEO

By Shrutika Verma

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Recruiting and workforce management software provider Taleo Corp (TLEO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is eyeing more acquisitions and betting on its new line of products as it looks to take away market share from rivals.

The company is targeting 20 percent to 25 percent of the recruiting-software market share by next year, compared with its present share of about 15 percent to 20 percent, Chief Executive Mike Gregoire said in an interview with Reuters.

Earlier on Tuesday, the company agreed to acquire strategic partner Worldwide Compensation Inc, which offers software to handle performance-based compensation, for $16 million in cash.

"In the performance management market we are relatively nascent and have less than 1 percent market. We would like to see ourselves (increasing the share) to mid to high single digits over the next couple of years," he said.

Taleo, which sells niche software to manage human resources, competes with Oracle Corp (ORCL.O: Quote, Profile, Research), SuccessFactors Inc (SFSF.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Kenexa Corp (KNXA.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

Organizations use Taleo's on-demand talent-management software for recruitment, performance management and other human resources functions.

The company plans to boost its double-digit revenue growth with a couple of acquisitions in the next two or three years, Gregoire said.

"We have about $50 million in cash we could spend on M&A," Gregoire said.