Salesforce Finds Profit Is New Magic Word for Activist Investors
- Benioff is looking for ways to please his new shareholders
- Salesforce raised profit margin forecast; shares surged
Salesforce Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff likes to start his earnings calls with investors on a light note. He’s opened in the past by talking about the “magic” of Covid safety protocols, the crisp air of San Francisco as Christmas approaches, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos or doing interviews with CNBC’s Jim Cramer.
Instead on Wednesday afternoon, he got right to business: “Our goal is to make Salesforce the largest and most profitable software company in the world and that is what we are doing,” he said in one of the first sentences of his prepared remarks. He followed with new steps to please investors, such as disbanding its M&A committee which effectively ends the company’s controversial acquisition strategy, doubling stock buybacks and forming a new “Business Transformation” group.