Tableau Software
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Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Software |
Founded | Mountain View, California (2003) |
Founders | Christian Chabot Chris Stolte Andrew Beers Pat Hanrahan |
Successor | Salesforce ![]() |
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people |
Damon Fletcher (CFO) Andrew Beers (CTO) |
Revenue | ![]() |
| |
Number of employees | 4,181 (May 2019)[3] |
Parent | Salesforce |
Website | tableau.com |
Tableau Software (/tæbˈloʊ/ tab-LOH) is an interactive data visualization software company[4] founded in January 2003 by Christian Chabot, Pat Hanrahan and Chris Stolte, in Mountain View, California. The company is currently headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States [5] focused on business intelligence.[6] On August 1, 2019, Salesforce acquired Tableau for $15.7 billion.[7][8]
Chabot, Hanrahan and Stolte were researchers at the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University[9] who specialized in visualization techniques for exploring and analyzing relational databases and data cubes.[10] The company was started as a commercial outlet for research produced at Stanford between 1999-2002.
Tableau products query relational databases, online analytical processing cubes, cloud databases, and spreadsheets to generate graph-type data visualizations. The products can also extract, store, and retrieve data from an in-memory data engine.
Software products
Tableau products include:[11][12]
- Tableau Desktop (Both professional and personal editions)
- Tableau Server
- Tableau Online
- Tableau Prep Builder[13] (Released in 2018)
- Tableau Vizable[14] (Consumer data visualization mobile app released in 2015)
- Tableau Public (free to use)
- Tableau Reader (free to use)
- Tableau Mobile
Functionalities
Tableau has a mapping functionality,[15][16] and is able to plot latitude and longitude coordinates and connect to spatial files[17] like Esri Shapefiles, KML, and GeoJSON to display custom geography.[18] The built-in geo-coding allows for administrative places (country, state/province, county/district), postal codes, US Congressional Districts, US CBSA/MSA, Area Codes, Airports, and European Union statistical areas (NUTS codes) to be mapped automatically. You can group geographies to create custom territories[19] or use custom geocoding to extend existing geographic roles in the product.[20]
History
Tableau was founded in 2003 by Pat Hanrahan, Christian Chabot, and Chris Stolte, and moved its headquarters to the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, the following year.[21][22] The company has since expanded its Fremont headquarters and announced plans in 2016 for an auxiliary campus in suburban Kirkland, Washington.[23] A new headquarters building opened near Gas Works Park in Wallingford in March 2017 and was followed by a new building in Fremont that opened in 2018.[24]
In August 2016, Tableau announced the appointment of Adam Selipsky as president and CEO, effective September 16, 2016, replacing co-founder Christian Chabot as CEO.[25]
In June 2018, Tableau acquired Empirical Systems, a Cambridge, Massachusetts based artificial intelligence startup, with plans to integrate the company's technology into the Tableau platform. Tableau also announced plans to establish an office in Cambridge as a result of the deal.[26][27]
On June 10, 2019, Tableau was acquired by Salesforce in an all stock deal worth over $15 billion.[28]
Finances
On May 17, 2013, Tableau launched an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange,[29] raising more than $250 million.[30] Prior to its IPO, Tableau raised over $45 million in venture capital investment from investors such as the NEA and Meritech.[30]
The company's 2013 revenue reached $232.44 million, an 82% growth over 2012's $128 million.[31] In 2010, Tableau reported revenue of $34.2 million. That figure grew to $62.4 million in 2011 and $127.7 million in 2012. Profit during the same periods came to $2.7 million, $3.4 million, and $1.6 million, respectively.[32]
On June 10, 2019, Salesforce.com announced that they would be acquiring Tableau in a $15.7 billion deal.[33]
Wikileaks and policy changes
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Global_Temperatures_Server.png/200px-Global_Temperatures_Server.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Sales_Dashboard_Full_screen_v2.png/200px-Sales_Dashboard_Full_screen_v2.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Executive_Salesforce_Sales_Summary.png/200px-Executive_Salesforce_Sales_Summary.png)
On December 2, 2010, Tableau deleted WikiLeaks's visualizations about the United States diplomatic cables leak, stating it was due to direct political pressure from US Senator Joe Lieberman.[34][35]
On February 21, 2011, Tableau posted an updated data policy.[36] The accompanying blog post cited the two main changes as (1) creating a formal complaint process and (2) using freedom of speech as a guiding principle.[37] In addition, the post announced the creation of an advisory board to help the company navigate future situations that "push the boundaries" of the policy.[37] Tableau likened the new policy to the model set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and opined that under the new policy, Wikileaks' visuals would not have been removed, as "the underlying data were statistics about the cables, not the cables themselves".[38]
Awards
In 2008, Tableau was named a Codie award winner for "Best Business Intelligence Solution" by the Software and Information Industry Association.[39] The company was recognized as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for seven consecutive years between 2012 and 2019.[40]
References
- ^ "Tableau Company Profile". Craft. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "99.1 - 01 (Q4 2014)". SEC. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ "Company Overview of Tableau Software, Inc". Bloomberg. 2019-05-13.
- ^ A Dead-Simple Tool That Lets Anyone Create Interactive Maps
- ^ Tableau Software Helping Data Become More Visual
- ^ "Tableau Business Intelligence". Tableau Software. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
- ^ "Salesforce Completes Acquisition of Tableau". tableau.com. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ "Salesforce completes $15.7B acquisition of Tableau Software, creating new enterprise tech force". GeekWire. 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
- ^ "How To Get a 20 Million Dollar Pre-Money Valuation for Series A: Tableau Software CEO Christian Chabot (Part 3)". One MIllion by One Million by Sramana Mitra. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ "Christopher R. Stolte: Ph.D. Candidate @ Stanford". Graphics.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
- ^ "Difference between products". Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- ^ "Tableau Desktop Pricing".
- ^ "Project Maestro". Tableau Software. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
- ^ https://vizable.tableau.com/
- ^ Maps
- ^ Tips for avoiding nulls & errors using Tableau
- ^ "Create Tableau Maps from Spatial Files". onlinehelp.tableau.com. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
- ^ Plotting Geographic Data Using Custom Longitude and Latitude Values
- ^ "Create Territories on a Map". onlinehelp.tableau.com. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
- ^ Custom Geocode Your Data
- ^ Levy, Ari (May 16, 2013). "Seattle's Tableau raises $254M in year's biggest tech IPO". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- ^ "Tableau Raises $10M in Second Venture Round, Wants To Be the "Adobe of Data"". Xconomy.
- ^ Lerman, Rachel (January 13, 2016). "Tableau confirms big Kirkland expansion, plans to hire 1,000". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- ^ Coombs, Casey (March 23, 2018). "Tableau Software opens 110,000-square-foot Fremont building". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- ^ Lerman, Rachel (22 August 2016). "Seattle Times". Retrieved 23 August 2016.
- ^ "Tableau gets AI shot in the arm with Empirical Systems acquisition – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
- ^ "Tableau acquires MIT AI spinoff Empirical Systems, opens new R&D center in Boston area". GeekWire. 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
- ^ "Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Tableau". investor.salesforce.com. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
- ^ CNBC Big Data's IPO: Tableau Software Is a Big One
- ^ a b Lunden, Ingrid (May 17, 2013). "Big Data Analytics Specialist Tableau Software Raises $254M In IPO". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
- ^ "Financial Statements for Tableau Software Inc - Google Finance". google.com/finance. Google Finance. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
- ^ "Forms S-1". SEC. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
- ^ Chin, Kimberly (2019-06-10). "Salesforce to Buy Analytics Platform Tableau". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
- ^ Arthur, Charles; Halliday, Josh (December 3, 2010). "WikiLeaks cables visualisation pulled after pressure from Joe Lieberman". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Fink, Elissa (December 2, 2010). "Why we removed the WikiLeaks visualizations". Tableau Software.
- ^ "The Data is In: New Policy & Advisory Board for Tableau Public". Tableau Software. 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
- ^ a b Fink, Elissa (February 21, 2011). "The Data is In: New Policy & Advisory Board for Tableau Public". Tableau Software.
- ^ Kosara, Robert (February 22, 2011). "Tableau Public's New Data Policy". EagerEyes blog. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
- ^ "2008 Codie award Winners" Archived 2010-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. SIIA.net.
- ^ "7 years a Leader: 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant is here!". Tableau Software. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
External links
- Salesforce.com
- Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Data visualization software
- Business software companies
- Data analysis software
- Business intelligence companies
- Software companies based in Seattle
- Data companies
- 2013 initial public offerings
- American companies established in 2003
- Software companies established in 2003
- 2003 establishments in California
- 2019 mergers and acquisitions
- Software companies of the United States