Hosted software company also posts revenue gain and profit for third quarter Hosted sales management software provider Salesforce.com is closing in on 200,000 paying subscribers, an 80 percent gain in its customer base from this time last year, the company said Wednesday as it announced its third-quarter financial results.Salesforce.com edged past analyst expectations with quarterly revenue of $46.4 million, up 82 percent from last year’s third quarter, and net income of $2.2 million. The San Francisco company reported per-share earnings of $0.02. The consensus forecast of analysts polled by Thomson First Call was for $0.01 in per-share earnings.Salesforce.com expects revenue of $172 million to $174 million in its 2005 fiscal year, which ends Jan. 31. While that’s small compared to others in the CRM (customer relationship management) market — market leader Siebel Systems had revenue of $1.4 billion last year — Salesforce.com’s rapid customer growth has drawn attention to its hosted, subscription sales model. Its customer base is tilted toward smaller companies: As Salesforce.com grows, its average deal size remains around 15 licensed users. Salesforce.com said it ended the quarter with 195,000 paying subscribers. For its 2006 fiscal year, the company projected revenue of $275 million to $285 million. Software Development