Salesforce Cost-Cutting Campaign Eases Fears About Slowdown

  • Company raises fiscal-year sales, profit and margin outlook
  • Quarterly revenue gains 11% and earnings beat estimates

The Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.

Photographer: Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg
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Salesforce Inc. was pushed by activist investors earlier this year to boost profits. For the third quarter in a row, Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff showed he heard the message.

The software giant gave a revenue and profit forecast for the current period that topped analysts’ estimates, signaling progress in the campaign to cut costs and quelling some anxiety about a sales slowdown. The shares jumped 5.1% as trading got underway in New York on Thursday.