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☆ As the market enters correction territory, don't blame the American consumer
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Amazon.com Inc | ReutersThe initial third-quarter report on gross domestic product showed consumer spending zooming higher by 4% percent a year, after inflation, the best in almost two years. How is this possible with interest rates on everything from credit cards to cars and homes soaring? But they were below expectations at electric-vehicle leader Tesla , which blamed high interest rates, and at Ford . "And as interest rates rise, the proportion of that monthly payment that is interest increases." At American Express , which saw U.S. consumer spending rise 9%, the mild surprise was the company's disclosure that young consumers are adding Amex cards faster than any other group.

Persons: Bill Ackman, CFRA, Sam Stovall, Ryan Marshall, Wells, Jackie Benson, Tesla, Elon Musk, GM, Mary Barra, Paul Jacobson, John Lawler, Musk, Brian Moynihan, Jeremy Barnum, Sachin Mehra, Zers, Guess they're, Stovall, chargeoffs, John Greene, Morgan Stanley, Ravi Shanker, Spirit, Sundaram, Ethan Allen, they've, Marc Bitzer, Arun Sundaram, Amanda Agati, there's Organizations: Amazon.com Inc, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Coldwell, Ford, General Motors, GM, United Auto Workers, UAW, Cox Automotive, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Financial Services, JetBlue, Whirlpool, Amazon, PNC, Federal, Asset Management Locations: Shakopee , Minnesota, U.S, Covid, PulteGroup, Vermont

REUTERS/Benoit TessierJuly 27 (Reuters) - Visa (V.N) and Mastercard (MA.N), which bet on China to boost travel spending, have had to contend with a disappointing first half of the year as post-COVID momentum in the world's second-biggest economy loses steam. In their earnings calls this week, both card giants said travel in China was nowhere near pre-pandemic levels. "Looking at Mainland China specifically, cross-border travel continued to improve but remains well below 2019 levels," said Vasant Prabhu, Visa's chief financial officer. His counterpart at Mastercard, Sachin Mehra, also said there was further room for travel recovery in China. Reuters GraphicsInbound cross-border travel to China stood at nearly 50% of 2019 levels, while outbound travel was nearly 70%, the company said.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, Vasant Prabhu, Sachin Mehra, Edward Jones, Logan Purk, Manya Saini, Niket, Krishna Chandra Organizations: REUTERS, Mastercard, Reuters, U.S, Reuters Graphics Visa, Thomson Locations: China, Mainland China, U.S . Federal, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce sufficiently acquiesces to angry mob
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The software developer revealed financial progress in its quarterly results, indicated it would throttle pricey deals and installed new board members, including a representative from ValueAct Capital. Co-Founder and Chief Executive Marc Benioff said on Wednesday that improving profitability is the company’s top priority. As evidence of the commitment, Salesforce said in January that it would lay off 10% of its workers. They are Mason Morfit, chief executive of ValueAct Capital; Sachin Mehra, Mastercard’s finance chief; and Arnold Donald, the former CEO of Carnival. Assertive investors Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, and Inclusive Capital, have held talks with Salesforce, according to Reuters.

☆ Don't act on new activist push for board seats at Salesforce before earnings, Benioff reaction
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Hedge fund Elliott Management's decision to nominate candidates for Salesforce 's (CRM) board represents an escalation of the activist agitation at the Club holding. The Club generally believes activists' wishes for cost-cutting at Salesforce are positive, as long as Benioff remains at the helm. It's unclear whether Elliott is nominating two or three candidates for Salesforce's board, according to CNBC's David Faber, who broke the story Wednesday morning . Benioff is chairman of Salesforce's board. However, we don't want the activist pressure at Salesforce to cause Benioff to depart the company.

☆ Cramer sees a 'good chance' Salesforce's Benioff will soon announce succession plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Jim Cramer suggested Saturday that plans for a leadership change at Club holding Salesforce (CRM) — helmed by co-founder Marc Benioff for more than two decades — may be disclosed in the near future. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) YTD performance In early January, Salesforce announced a cost-cutting plan that included layoffs and office space reductions — moves that Jim has said were pushed for by Starboard . While Benioff has said he's "never leaving" Salesforce , the company has twice elevated an executive to the role of co-CEO. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Marc Benioff, founder, chairman and CEO of enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.

☆ Salesforce, activist investor Elliott may soon reach deal - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Cloud-based software firm Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) and activist investor Elliott Management Corp are in discussions to reach an agreement that may end a possible board challenge, according to two people familiar with the matter. The battle at Salesforce has pitted Elliott as well as other activist investors against Marc Benioff, one of Silicon Valley's most iconic chief executives. Salesforce's growth has slowed dramatically in recent quarters and last month the company said it would cut 10% of jobs to address its performance. Representatives for Salesforce and Elliott declined to comment. Elliott too has long invested in technology companies and in the past reached settlements for board seats with companies including Pinterest (PINS.N), Twitter and eBay (EBAY.O).

☆ Yet another activist targets Salesforce — further validation there's money to be made in the stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A fifth activist investor has taken a stake in Club holding Salesforce (CRM), making loud and clear that well-respected hedge funds see a money-making opportunity in the enterprise software giant. With activist investing becoming more common since the Great Financial Crisis, Jiang said it's not unheard of for a single company to be targeted by multiple firms. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Salesforce Names Three Directors, Braces for Proxy Fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sachin Mehra, chief financial officer of Mastercard Inc., was named an independent director at Salesforce Inc.Salesforce Inc. has appointed three new directors, including the finance chief of Mastercard Inc., to its board as a potential proxy fight with activist investor Elliott Management Corp. looms. The business-software maker said Friday morning that Mastercard CFO Sachin Mehra , ValueAct Capital Chief Executive Mason Morfit and Arnold Donald , the former president and chief executive of Carnival Corp., have been named independent directors, effective March 1.

☆ Salesforce appoints new board directors amid activist investor pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) on Friday named three new board directors, including the chief of hedge fund ValueAct Capital, amid pressure from activist investors for better cost control and a management shakeup at the cloud-based software firm. The company appointed chief executive of hedge fund ValueAct Capital Mason Morfit, Mastercard (MA.N) finance chief Sachin Mehra and former chief executive of Carnival Corp (CCL.N) Arnold Donald to its board. Reuters reported on Thursday that Elliott Management Corp, the activist investment firm that recently made a multimillion-dollar investment in Salesforce, plans to nominate several director candidates. The company also said Sanford Robertson and Alan Hassenfeld, directors at Salesforce since 2003, will not stand for re-election. Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ If Marc Benioff is forced to sell Slack to appease activist investors, it would probably be worth less than half the $28 billion he paid just 18 months ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He calculated Slack would be worth less than half what Salesforce paid for it, and could still be worth selling. Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff has multiple activist investors with stakes in his company, circling him to demand changes. One possible outcome is that Benioff is forced to sell or spinoff Slack, according to analysts. It paid more than twice that — $27.7 billion — in an acquisition that closed just 18 months ago. Under siege from fearsome activist investorsWhen we say Benioff has multiple activist investors circling, we mean he's practically under siege.

☆ Mastercard warns of slower revenue growth as travel growth plateaus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Niket Nishant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A 3D printed Mastercard logo is seen in front of displayed stock graph in this illustration taken September 20, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationJan 26 (Reuters) - Mastercard Inc (MA.N) forecast current-quarter revenue growth short of Wall Street estimates on Thursday, saying the boost from pent-up demand for travel will diminish going forward. After the Federal Reserve's rate hikes for most of last year, the economy has begun to show some signs of slowing down, with wide-ranging layoffs and fears of a recession spooking consumers into saving more, which is likely to impact travel growth. "Mastercard’s payment volume growth in Q4 2022 remained strong. Mastercard said it expects first-quarter revenue to grow at the "high-end of high-single digits range", while analysts had estimated a growth of 10.7%, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

☆ Facing growing calls for reform, Salesforce could use some fresh faces on its board
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The enterprise software giant is considering at least three potential board appointees, Bloomberg News reported Thursday , citing people with knowledge of the matter. Among those reportedly in conversation to join Salesforce's board are former Carnival Cruise CEO Arnold Donald, Mastercard CFO Sachin Mehra and Mason Morfit, the chief executive of ValueAct Capital. And the firm is now planning to nominate candidates for Salesforce's board, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday . Bottom line We're encouraged by the Bloomberg report because Salesforce's board could undoubtedly use a refresh, with multiple directors having served for 10 years or more, according to FactSet. New board members, coupled with growing activist pressure, could could be just the boost Salesforce needs and that the market wants to see.

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