Adobe to Buy Marketo for $4.75 Billion in Marketing Push (2)

Adobe Systems Inc. agreed to acquire software maker Marketo Inc. for $4.75 billion, bolstering its marketing tools in a bid to compete against Salesforce.com Inc. and Oracle Corp. in a fast-growing business.

The deal, which would be Adobe’s largest acquisition ever, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, the San Jose, Calif.-based company said Sept. 20 in a statement.

Adobe, the maker of image-editing tool Photoshop, has sought to develop a software suite that includes advertising, analytics, and e-commerce programs. Adobe purchased Magento Commerce for $1.7 billion in June to enter the market for e-commerce. Marketo, ...