Salesforce Gives Investors a Jolt
All right, so, Snowflake is hiring and now Salesforce, fresh off firing 7,500 staff, just delivered what one analyst is calling “a monster quarter.” Another dubbed the numbers released on Wednesday “the trifecta — growth, margins and share buybacks.”
How much Salesforce’s latest earnings have to do with layoffs isn’t clear.
Overall, Salesforce is contending with activist investors who want the company to do more with less. Those external stakeholders — Elliott Management, Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, Inclusive Capital Partners and Third Point Management — have been pushing for the Marc Benioff-led company to spend less money and cut down on its deal-making activity. In fact, Elliott Management just nominated people it wants to sit on the Salesforce board, which would put more pressure on Salesforce.
Even so, Salesforce on March 1 showed better-than-expected numbers, posting fourth-quarter of $8.4 billion. Analysts were projecting $7.99 billion. Margins reached 22.5%.
