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☆ Big Tech has split into 3 camps: loved, hated and iffy. Here's where our 8 stocks fit
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

META YTD mountain Meta Platforms YTD Meta has the biggest tailwind on Earth being dangled in front of it — the newly signed law that says Chinese company ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban on the short-form video platform. AMZN YTD mountain Amazon YTD Amazon is also in the loved category but reports this coming Tuesday. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia YTD I have no idea how Nvidia got to be a fence-sitter. AVGO YTD mountain Broadcom YTD Broadcom is iffy. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce YTD Salesforce has become mighty complicated.

Persons: I'm, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Andy Jassy, It's, Claude AI, Jensen Huang, Nvidia's, hasn't, it's, Hock Tan, Salesforce, Marc Benioff, what's, that's, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Carlos Barria Organizations: Microsoft, Meta, he's, Google, Amazon, Services, Nvidia, Broadcom, Blackwell, VMWare, calvary, PayPal, Informatica, Apple, CNBC, Facebook Locations: U.S, Oregon, Informatica, China, Menlo Park , California

☆ Informatica says it's not for sale, following Salesforce's reported interest in $10 billion deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Enterprise data management company Informatica is not currently in talks to be acquired, the company said Monday, after earlier reports suggested that Salesforce was interested in a roughly $10 billion deal. Informatica shares slumped more than 7% on the news, while Salesforce shares rose around 1%. The acquisition would have been Salesforce's largest since the 2021 deal to purchase Slack. Salesforce's investors also reacted negatively to the idea of the deal, sending shares down more than 7% when news of the potential purchase first broke. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's voracious appetite for mergers and acquisitions was one of the factors that drew a flurry of activists in 2023 seeking to rein in the company's spending.

Persons: Salesforce, Slack, Amit Walia, Marc Benioff's Organizations: Informatica, Street

☆ Shopify has poached at least two dozen employees from Salesforce as it pushes into enterprise e-commerce
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Holly Dresden joined Shopify as head of enterprise merchant success in December after six years with Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Evan AgostiniAs it moves further into enterprise, Shopify hasn't always been subtle about zeroing in on Salesforce as a competitor. It recently launched a webpage comparing its platform with Salesforce Commerce Cloud, encouraging merchants to "join the mass migration" of brands moving from Salesforce to Shopify. But winning over enterprise retailers requires a different approach, and it's one where Salesforce has more years of experience than Shopify. Talking the enterprise talkPoaching employees from Salesforce isn't the only way Shopify has made an effort to win over enterprise customers.

Persons: —, Shopify, Kal Stephen, Holly Dresden, Everlane, Marc Benioff, Evan Agostini, hasn't, Michael Affronti, we've, Affronti, Shopify's, Salesforce, We've, It's, Rick Watson, Watson, Demandware, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Wong, Harley Finkelstein Organizations: Service, Salesforce Commerce, Business, Salesforce, Adobe, SAP, Mattel, Commerce, RMW Commerce Consulting, Accenture, IDC, Manhattan Associates Locations: Salesforce, Demandware

☆ Why investors should check the outstanding share count before buying a stock
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

But what if I told you this group shrunk its share count dramatically since 2019? The numbers tell the story: Lennar now has 276 million shares outstanding, down from 318 million five years ago. Other than Toll, most of the homebuilder management teams do not emphasize this fundamental change in share count. Management has been buying hand over fist since 2019, shrinking the share count to 215 million from 264 million. My rather unassailable conclusion is pretty simple: Check the share count before you buy a stock.

Persons: PulteGroup, DR Horton, —, Douglas Yearley hadn't, homebuilders, Jim Umpleby, Eaton, Dow, Cummins, Elliott, Marc Benioff, Colette Kress, Williams, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Mike Blake Organizations: Federal Reserve, DR, Management, Dick's, Goods, Abercrombie, Fitch, Williams, Walmart, Caterpillar, DuPont, Marathon Petroleum, Elliott Management, Valero Energy, Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Apple, Microsoft, NFL, Jim Cramer's Charitable, CNBC Locations: tatters, California, Sonoma, America, Williams Sonoma, San Marcos , California

☆ Salesforce's behind-the-scenes co-founder is tackling Slack as software company turns 25
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

"The V2MOM had nothing about generative AI," Parker Harris, who co-founded the company with Benioff, told CNBC in an interview. Harris, a Salesforce board member and now the technology chief of Slack, which Salesforce bought in 2021, said he'd rather avoid the limelight. Without the Data Cloud, Harris told CNBC, "I think we would have been in a much worse place." He told Benioff he'd redo the plan, the person said. They'll be talking more frequently, as Harris said they're about to kick off weekly meetings on Slack and Salesforce integrations.

Persons: Parker Harris, Marlena Sloss, Marc Benioff, ChatGPT, Benioff, Salesforce, Harris, Slack, he'd, Sam Altman, Noah Berger, Robin, Batman, Frank Dominguez, Dave Moellenhoff, Bobby Yazdani, Larry Ellison, Yazdani, Dominguez, Brett Queener, who's, Queener, Salesforce.com, He's, Ruth Asawa, Josef Albers, Miles Davis, Donald Trump, Jason Alden, Marc, Kara Swisher, David Paul Morris, Adam Selipsky, it's, Stewart Butterfield, Lidiane Jones, Cal Henderson, Benioff's, Parker, Noah Weiss, Denise Dresser, Weiss, Parker Harris emoji, They'll, Salesforce integrations, Stefan Slowinski Organizations: Salesforce, Bloomberg, Getty, CNBC, Google, Microsoft, Middlebury College, Apple, San, San Francisco Bay Area, Metropolis Software, Software, Saba Software, Oracle, San Francisco's Telegraph, YouTube, Facebook, Economic, Salesforce.com Inc, Web, VMware, Employees Locations: San Francisco, Silicon Valley, English, Vermont, North Carolina, San Francisco Bay, Moellenhoff, Kincaid's, Burlingame, San Francisco's, Salesforce, France, Italy, Nantucket, San, Pacific, Davos, Switzerland, Cliff, New York, Las Vegas, Hawaii

☆ Here are the top AI picks for 2024 from Baird
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

To try and offer up some alternate names, Baird released an updated 2024 edition of its stock picks targeting top ideas in artificial intelligence and machine learning in a 34-page report out Tuesday. "While the implications of AI vary across sectors, we collectively believe the AI tidal wave is still in the early innings," a team of analysts led by Tristan Gerra wrote. Another name Baird recommended was cloud cybersecurity firm Cloudflare , which surged last month after topping analyst expectations in its fourth quarter. "Though AI's impact on NET's revenue is still unfolding, the company is strategically positioning itself for the shift from AI training to inference," wrote Baird analyst Shrenik Kothari. "Cloudflare's focus on connectivity for AI applications and the optimization of its network for diverse AI use cases showcases its commitment to facilitating AI adoption and exploring new monetization avenues as the AI landscape evolves."

Persons: Baird, Tristan Gerra, Pinterest, Colin Sebastian, BofA, Shrenik Kothari, Marc Benioff's, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Kash Rangan, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Nasdaq, Nvidia, Micro Computer, Apple, Bank of America, Wall Street, TAM

☆ AI-powered devices could drastically change how we interact with technology. But will they catch on?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"The key isn't hardware but the user experience it enables," Khosla, whose firm Khosla Ventures, is an investor in Rabbit, told Business Insider in an email. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. At the same time, I don't think the average consumer wants to carry around multiple devices," S. Somasegar, a managing director at Madrona, told Business Insider. That's where we're at," he told Business Insider. Ginsberg said he's excited about the Humnane Pin because AI voice assistants have finally become powerful enough to be useful for average consumers.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Khosla, Navin Chaddha, Ai, Somasegar, Bernstein, Nielsen, Zachary Ginsburg, Ginsberg, Marc Benioff, Sam Altman, Lachy Groom, Avi Schiffmann, it's, Chaddha Organizations: Khosla Ventures, Software, Business, Mayfield, Microsoft, Calm Ventures, Bond Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Harvard Locations: Humane's

☆ Big-name investors are betting AI gadgets could change the way we interact with tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. What's on deck:This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. The big storyAI (literally) in your pocketTech workers are criticizing Humane's hotly anticipated Ai pin. AdvertisementIn fact, heavy hitters like legendary investor Vinod Khosla believe that AI devices will completely change how we interact with technology. Humane's Ai Pin, which can project text onto users' hands and translate voice messages, didn't get a warm welcome when it launched late last year .

Persons: —, Oompa, I've, Willy Wonka, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Humane's, Vinod Khosla, Samantha Stokes, Vishal Persaud, Khosla, Ai, didn't, Tim Cook, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Franck Robichon, Paul Krugman, shouldn't, we're, Wells, Bank of America's Merrill, Bitcoin, Tyler Le, maven, Alexei Navalny's, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb, George Glover Organizations: Service, Business, Humane, Khosla Ventures, Rabbit, Bank of America's, Wall, The New York Times, WW, SEC Locations: Franck, Wells Fargo, New York, London

☆ Salesforce's new data and AI hires are coming from areas of the country with 'high talent pools, low cost of living'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company laid off 10% of its workforce, which had reached nearly 80,000 employees, last year. AdvertisementJust a year after Salesforce laid off nearly 10% of its workforce, the company's head count is beginning to creep back up. "We're investing into our most productive areas — AI and data," CFO Amy Weaver said this week on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call with investors. The company reported a non-GAAP operating margin of 30.5% for the fiscal year, above the 30% threshold that activist investors had pushed for. New hires, Weaver said, are being added to Salesforce in "cost-effective ways," such as hiring people from areas that have "high talent pools and low cost of living."

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, —, Amy Weaver, Weaver, Benioff, Larry Ellison —, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Service, SEC, New, Business, Oracle Locations: New York, San Francisco, Salesforce

☆ Salesforce shares slip after the company calls for single-digit full-year revenue growth
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce shares slid as much as 6% in extended trading on Wednesday after the business software maker issued a light revenue forecast for the new fiscal year. Here's how the company did, compared with estimates from LSEG:Earnings per share: $2.29, adjusted, vs. $2.26 expected$2.29, adjusted, vs. $2.26 expected Revenue: $9.29 billion, vs. $9.22 billion expectedSalesforce's revenue grew 10.8% year over year in the quarter, which ended on Jan. 31, according to a statement. Salesforce called for adjusted fiscal first-quarter earnings of $2.37 to $2.39 per share, with $9.12 billion to $9.17 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had been expecting $2.20 in adjusted earnings per share on $9.15 billion in revenue. For the new 2025 fiscal year, Salesforce said it sees adjusted earnings of $9.68 to $9.76 per share and $37.7 billion to $38.0 billion in revenue.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Salesforce, LSEG Organizations: Salesforce, Economic, Amazon Web Services Locations: Davos, Switzerland

☆ Salesforce CEO explains why his company's Einstein Copilot product is unique
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday that his company's Einstein Copilot product is different from other artificial intelligence programs because of the way it uses customer data to make decisions. "We already have tremendous user interfaces at Salesforce," Benioff said. "Our Sales Cloud, our Service Cloud, our Marketing Cloud, even Tableau, even Slack, these are amazing ways to talk to that data. He elaborated, saying Salesforce is built "on a rich fabric of data and metadata," and it serves companies including Amazon , IHG and Schneider Electric . Salesforce reported earnings Wednesday, and while earnings surpassed Wall Street's expectations, revenue guidance came in weak.

Persons: Marc Benioff, CNBC's Jim Cramer, Einstein, Benioff, Slack Organizations: Amazon, Schneider

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: Co-pilot uses our customers data to make decisions
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff: Co-pilot uses our customers data to make decisionsSalesforce Co-Founder, Chair and CEO Marc Benioff joins 'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer to talk quarterly results, shares buybacks, AI application and more.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Jim Cramer

☆ Salesforce beats on earnings, declares dividend. Those selling the stock are missing the big picture
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Adjusted operating margin expanded to 31.4% in the quarter, missing estimates of 31.55%, according to FactSet. No, but it was an overall solid quarter for Salesforce, with the company beating on most key metrics. In its fiscal 2024, Salesforce repurchased $7.7 billion worth of stock, lowering its diluted share count by about 1 million to 983 million. For the first quarter, Salesforce guided for revenues between $9.12 and $9.17 billion, in line with estimates of $9.15 billion. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

Persons: Salesforce, We're, it's, Wednesday's, Marc Benioff, we'd, Amy Weaver, Benioff, Einstein, Cash, Salesforce's, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Justin Sullivan Organizations: Revenue, LSEG, Club, CNBC Locations: Americas, Africa, Asia, Latin America, India, Canada, San Francisco , California

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff goes one-on-one with Jim Cramer
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff goes one-on-one with Jim CramerSalesforce Co-Founder, Chair and CEO Marc Benioff joins 'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer to talk quarterly results, shares buybacks, AI application and more.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer Salesforce, Jim Cramer

☆ Hedge funds took profits in these popular technology stocks during the fourth quarter
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Hedge funds appeared to take profits in a host of winning " Magnificent Seven " stocks during the fourth quarter at the end of a blowout year for the septet. Still, Nvidia shares rallied 14% in the fourth quarter, extending a 3% gain in the September quarter. Nor was Nvidia the only semiconductor maker that hedge funds cut back on in the fourth quarter. Reducing exposure to the rest of Magnificent Seven Hedge funds also took profits in a handful of other popular Magnificent Seven stocks that helped power 2023's AI-fueled market rally. Beyond the most prominent companies, hedge funds also made key reductions in other popular technology and semiconductor bets last quarter.

Persons: Dan Sundheim zeroed, Stanley Druckenmiller, David Tepper's, Phillippe Laffont's Coatue, Global's Chase Coleman, Jensen Huang, chipmaker, Tepper, Ole Andreas Halvorsen, Druckenmiller, Baupost Group's Seth Klarman, Coatue's Laffont, Point's Dan Loeb, Berkshire Hathaway, Value's Jeffrey Smith, Marc Benioff, Appaloosa's Tepper, Michael Burry, Druckenmiller amped, Point's Loeb, Coatue, Laffont, Tiger Global's Coleman, —, Alex Harring, Yun Li Organizations: Appaloosa Management, D1, Technology, Wall, Nvidia, Management, Devices, Intel, Qualcomm, Taiwan Semiconductor, Viking, Arm Holdings, VanEck Semiconductor, Google, Microsoft, Duquesne, Viking Global, Corvex Management, Sundheim's D1 Capital, Baidu, Arista Networks, Scion, Oracle, Amazon, Tiger Global, Apple, Taiwan, Broadcom Locations: TSM, Meta, Berkshire, Salesforce, Chinese, China

☆ Wall Street billionaires dump Alphabet. How they traded 7 other portfolio stocks as well
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

In the fourth quarter, specifically, shares of Alphabet rose 6.75%. Third Point owned Alphabet for less than a year , while Druckenmiller traded in and out of the stock in recent quarters. Some Wall Street veterans merely pared back their exposure to Alphabet in the quarter, including David Tepper's Appaloosa Management . Baupost Group — the hedge fund run by value investor Seth Klarman — sold about 23% of its Alphabet stock over the same stretch. Berkshire parted ways with about 10 million shares of the iPhone maker, leaving the conglomerate with more than 905 million shares, worth $174.35 billion, at the end of the quarter.

Persons: Dan Loeb's, Stanley Druckenmiller, Druckenmiller, David Tepper, David Tepper's, Seth Klarman —, Jim Cramer, Michael Bury, Bill Ackman's, Tepper, Druckenmiller —, —, Eli Lilly, Lilly, Danaher, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett, Jeff Smith's, Marc Benioff, shouldn't, Jim, Jim Cramer's, Justin Sullivan Organizations: Club, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Palo Alto Networks, Wall, Management, Bill Ackman's Pershing, Capital Management, Duquesne Family, Trust, CNBC, Warren, Berkshire, BNSF Railway, Geico, Inclusive, Jim Cramer's Charitable Locations: Palo, 13Fs, Jim's, Mountain View , California

☆ Leaked email: Salesforce exec suggested workers who didn't hit a training goal could miss out on stock grants and bonuses
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Salesforce set a goal for all employees to achieve "Ranger" status on Trailhead, the company's internal training software, in 2023, BI previously reported. Becoming a Trailhead Ranger requires the accrual of 50,000 points on Trailhead, earned by completing various training modules, quizzes, and challenges. In January, Salesforce employees took to a companywide Slack channel named "airing-of-grievances" to bemoan an upcoming deadline for achieving Ranger status. One employee mentioned a "rumor" that staffers who failed to earn Ranger status would have their bonuses withheld. The downsizing comes after a year of aggressive cost-cutting and mass layoffs that had already reduced the company's workforce by 10%.

Persons: Srini Tallapragada, Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Benioff, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Rangers, Business, BI, Street, Elliott Management Locations: Benioff, Salesforce, ethomas@insider.com

☆ Less than 10% of Salesforce employees failed to hit an internal training goal. CEO Marc Benioff is one of them.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Salesforce wanted all employees to reach a goal on its training software Trailhead in 2023. 91.4% of employees achieved the goal of achieving "Ranger" status, a company spokesperson said. CEO Marc Benioff is still at the lowest level on Trailhead, according to his employee profile page. Salesforce "set a bold goal in 2023 of having all employees hit Ranger status on Trailhead," a spokesperson told BI via email. 91.4% of employees achieved Ranger status in 2023, they added, up from 48% the year prior.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, —, Marc Benioff didn't Organizations: Service, Business

☆ 'The Davos underground': A final take on the secretive parties of the world's rich and powerful
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +23 min

"That's when you get the good s---," said a Davos attendee who is regularly selected to join the exclusive backroom of the Annual Davos Wine Forum Tasting. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards JPMorgan took over the Kirchner Museum for its annual drinks event. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards The attire of the Davos set is decidedly not chic. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards The color of your conference badge determined access to World Economic Forum events. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Skiing and snowboarding post panels and broadcasting was another favorite pastime of some Davos goers.

Persons: bankrolled, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, George Soros, Bill Browder, Anthony Scaramucci, Anthony, Scaramucci, queued, Latour, Donald Trump, —, Mark Milley, Matt Damon, Richard Branson, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Coons, Paul Ryan, bartenders, Champagne Perrier, Chateau Latour, L'Eglise, Burgundy Olivier Bernstein Bonnes, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue, Tenuta, Casanova di Neri, Stephen King, Browder, Doug Emhoff, Gary Cohn, Ian Bremmer, Sir Martin Sorrell, Sting, Bill Gates, Sam Altman, Marc Benioff, Ray Dalio, Emhoff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Brian Moynihan, IBM's Gary Cohn, Jack Hidary, Sir Richard Moore, Barry Colson, Davos goer, Moritz, Eve, CNBCers, Emmanuel Macron, John Kerry, Joe Short, roundtables, Wyclef Jean, Diane von Fürstenberg, George Osborne, David Rhodes, Osborne, Politico's Suzanne Lynch, Princess Beatrice, David Blaine, Milley —, Tij, CNBC Tij Organizations: Economic, CNBC, Congress Center, Russian, Russian Direct Investment Fund, Moonshot Investor Network, Putin, Hermitage Capital, SkyBridge, White House Communications, Chiefs, Bordeaux Smith Haut, Platz, Politico, IBM, AB InBev, White, Trump, Eurasia Group, Capital, Microsoft, Wall Street, Billionaire Microsoft, Light, Infosys, Bloomberg House, JPMorgan, Kirchner Museum, Financial, Hotel, CNBC CNBC, Bank of America, New, Davos, U.S . Climate, Accenture, Golf Club Davos, Palantir, Chancellor, Sky News's, Sting, Workers, Swiss Army, Army, Gliding Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Soviet, Ukraine, Moscow, Hungarian, Hermitage, Providence, Europe, Davos's, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Smith Haut Lafitte, Bello, Santa Cruz, Napa Valley Tuscany, Schatzalp, Scalettastrasse, Emirates, Halifax, Canada, Salt Lake City, U.S, Palantir, Swiss

☆ Salesforce is the latest tech company to cut jobs with 700 layoffs, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The cuts will affect around 700 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. The layoffs are the latest in a wave of cuts sweeping the tech industry this month. More than 20,000 tech workers across 80 companies have been affected by job cuts in the first month of the year, according to tracker Layoffs.fyi . January is historically a common month for layoffs as companies adjust budgets and plans for the new year.

Persons: Salesforce, —, Marc Benioff's, Sundar Pichai Organizations: Street Journal, Service, Business, Industry, Google, Tech

☆ Microsoft's $3 trillion market cap milestone is the latest in a string of wins for Big Tech's elder statesman
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, we're looking at Microsoft notching another big win by briefly reaching a $3 trillion valuation. It's an impressive run for a company often viewed as the least sexy in Big Tech. 3 things in marketsInstagram/grandmabetty33The stock market is looking gray, and that's a bad thing. A famed economist said you shouldn't confuse a booming stock market with a strong economy. Nobel economist Paul Krugman recently wrote about how consumers feel too optimistic about the economy due to the current stock market rally.

Persons: —, Ethan Miller, Phil Rosen, OpenAI, Ashley Stewart, Tim Matsui, Ashley, That's, it's, It'll, aren't, We're, Taylor, Paul Krugman, Patrick Pleul, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Benioff chatted, Brad Barket, Jon Stewart, Stewart, Trevor Noah, Donald Trump, Jean Carroll's Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Big, Rosenberg Research, AP Tesla, EV, Microsoft Windows, Walmart, Comedy Central, Bank of America, Intel, Visa, Southwest Airlines, Comcast Locations: Big Tech

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tells retail workers: AI won't steal your job. It can make you better at it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Generative artificial intelligence won't take jobs from retail workers; instead, it will make them better at their jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told attendees at the National Retail Federation's annual conference in New York last week. They're not going to need as many agents," Benioff said. The system was able to augment those agents and make them better," Benioff said. With generative AI, he added, Gucci had taken its customer service agents to "a whole other level." "They're pretty incredible people, using generative AI for the first time," Benioff said.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Benioff, NRF, John Furner, Loro Piana, Gucci —, They're, That's, bam, Gucci Organizations: Business, Walmart, LVMH, Gucci, Kering Locations: New York, Italy

☆ Tech execs say a type of AI that can outdo humans is coming, but have no idea what it looks like
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. Altman was temporarily booted from OpenAI in November in a shock move that laid bare concerns around the governance of the companies behind the most powerful AI systems. In a discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Altman said his ouster was a "microcosm" of the stresses faced by OpenAI and other AI labs internally. "We're already seeing areas where AI has the ability to unlock our understanding ... where humans haven't been able to make that type of progress. Avoiding a 's--- show'Altman wasn't the only top tech executive asked about AI risks at Davos.

Persons: Sam Altman, Google's DeepMind, Salesforce, Altman, chatbot, We've, it's, Aidan Gomez, OpenAI, Gomez, CNBC's Arjun Kharpal, AGI, it'll, Lila Ibrahim, Ibrahim, CNBC's Kharpal, who've, haven't, Marc Benioff, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Andrew Yang, Geoffrey Hinton, Hinton, Benioff Organizations: Economic, Bloomberg, Getty, Microsoft, Union, ABC News, ABC, OpenAI, CBS Locations: Davos, Switzerland, United States, Cohere, Hiroshima

☆ Watch the full CNBC Leaders interview with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch the full CNBC Leaders interview with Salesforce CEO Marc BenioffCNBC's Sara Eisen sits down with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Sara Eisen Organizations: CNBC, Economic Locations: Davos

People attend the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2024. Javier MileiArgentina's President Javier Milei delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos on January 17, 2024. Sam AltmanSam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. He said AGI could be developed in the "reasonably close-ish future," speaking at a private gathering at the Bloomberg House in Davos, Switzerland. AI took a huge leap forward in the last year or two years," Benioff said on a World Economic Forum panel Thursday.

Persons: Denis Balibouse, Donald Trump, Ursula von der, Ursula von der Leyen, Jamie Dimon Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan, Adam Galici, Jamie Dimon, Dimon, Larry Fink's, bitcoin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin, Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy, Putin, Javier Milei, Fabrice COFFRINI, FABRICE COFFRINI, Fabrice Coffrini, Milei, Adena Friedman Adena Friedman, Adena Friedman, Friedman, Sam Altman Sam Altman, Sam Altman, Altman, Antony Blinken Antony Blinken, CNBC Putin, Antony Blinken, Blinken, Trump's, it's, Christine Lagarde, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Dmytro Kuleba, Arnd Wiegmann, Trump, Vladimir, Ukraine's, Kuleba, Michelle Yeoh Michelle Yeoh, Mike Coppola, Michelle Yeoh, CNBC's Tania Bryer, Yeoh, Pedro Sanchez Spanish, Pedro Sanchez, Isabel Infantes, Sanchez, Li Qiang Li Qiang, Li Qiang, Li, Isaac Herzog, Kfir Bibas, Herzog, Kfir, Hossein Amir, Abdollahian, Atta Kenare, Joe, Biden, Netanyahu, Amir, Sergio Ermotti, MICHAEL BUHOLZER, Ermotti, Marc Benioff Marc Benioff, Salesforce, CNBC's Sara Eisen, Marc Benioff, Benioff, Ray Dalio Ray Dalio, Bridgewater, Ray Dalio, Dalio, Mark Carney Mark Carney, DANIEL LEAL Organizations: Economic, Reuters, European, JPMorgan Chase, CNBC, BlackRock, Getty, Afp, NASDAQ, CNBC Nasdaq, Reuters OpenAI, Bloomberg, State, European Central Bank, Central Bank, Reuters Ukraine's, United Nations Development, Spanish, Getty Images, Hamas, Palestinian, Hezbollah, Turkish, AFP, Iranian, Sergio Ermotti UBS, Getty Images UBS, Credit Suisse, Bridgewater Associates, U.S, Bank of England, UN, OLIVAS Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Ukraine, Gaza, Russia, China, Moscow, WEF, AFP, OpenAI, U.S, Russian, Iran, Europe, United States, Hollywood , California, Madrid, Spain, Beijing, Washington, Lebanese, Tehran, Israel, Hiroshima

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