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☆ There are growing expectations that Salesforce is readying a succession plan to appease activist investors. 'There's not a lot of people sitting on the bench,' one analyst said.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Analyst said any succession plan would be about giving investors "comfort" about the future. Company insiders, former employees and Wall Street analysts increasingly expect Salesforce to put a succession plan in place soon. 'If he's willing to work with the activists, then he can stay CEO'Analysts think that if a succession plan is announced soon, it won't include Benioff's immediate exit. "Benioff is Salesforce and Salesforce is Benioff," said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Bret Taylor, former Salesforce executive SalesforceTaylor's departure in late November left Salesforce with a limited bench of potential successors.

☆ Even at its weirdest, most unhinged moments, Bing's chatbot is making Microsoft relevant again
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Alex Kantrowitz | Big Technology | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Screenshots of a maniacal, unhinged Bing chatbot have flooded the internet this week, showing the bot condescending, gaslighting, and trying to steal husbands. Even in its weirdest moments, Bing's chatbot has brought new relevance to Microsoft and its search division. "The fact that people are even writing about Microsoft Bing at all is a win," one Microsoft employee told me this week. Now, interest in Bing is soaringThe Bing app set its daily download record over the weekend, according to Apptopia. (Upon joining the waitlist for Bing's chatbot, Microsoft encourages downloading the app to get earlier access.)

☆ Zoom jumps on AI bandwagon, forecasts upbeat 2024 profit targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Tiyashi Datta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Analysts predict the AI tech will be a major driver for future growth for the tech industry, which has been grappling with slowing demand amid recessionary fears. San Jose, California-based Zoom forecast fiscal 2024 profit between $4.11 and $4.18 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of $3.66 per share, according to Refinitiv data. On an adjusted basis, Zoom earned $1.22 per share for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with estimates of 81 cents per share. Revenue grew 4% to $1.12 billion, above analysts' average expectation of $1.10 billion. The company, however, expects 2024 revenue between $4.44 billion and $4.46 billion, below average Street estimate of $4.60 billion.

☆ Palantir expects 2023 to be first profitable year, shares soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Palantir Technologies (PLTR.N) on Monday forecast its first profitable year and said it had slowed hiring, cut stock-based payouts and reduced cloud computing investments in response to lower spending from recession-wary businesses. The company forecast 2023 revenue between $2.18 billion and $2.23 billion, below the $2.29 billion estimated by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Still, a jump in defense contracts following Russia's invasion of Ukraine helped fourth-quarter revenue beat estimates with a rise of 18% to $509 million. Palantir signed deals with defense contractor Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) and the UK military in the period. Excluding items, Palantir earned 4 cents per share, compared to estimates of 3 cents per share.

☆ 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.

☆ The market crash could finally break Big Tech's addiction to subscriptions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With another recession looming, experts say usage-based models will become standard. Now, a decade and a half later, the subscription model is the hallmark of the cloud-computing era. As the name suggests, the usage-based model sees customers only billed for what they use — no more, and no less. Usage-based pricing has drawbacks, but can ultimately pay offThe one drawback of usage-based models for the companies that offer them is a lack of predictability. That, in turn, leaves usage-based companies more susceptible to a downturn, since it's a relatively easy for customers to cut spending.

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) lackluster quarterly outlook points to more gloom ahead for the tech sector, analysts said, after the tech bellwether warned its customers were cautious about spending in a turbulent economy. Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella, and other Microsoft executives used the words "caution" and "cautious" at least six times on the one hour call on Tuesday. "Microsoft is the biggest bellwether for enterprise and cloud spending in the world. Analysts said the sharp slowdown in Microsoft's revenue growth was a "warning sign" for the tech sector, with more weakness at its PC division than the cloud business. Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Attendees walk through an expo hall at AWS re:Invent 2022, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., November 30, 2022. After years of blistering growth, most recently fuelled by remote working and studying during the pandemic, cloud demand has cooled in the past nine months and sales growth may slow further, analysts said. AWS, Amazon's lucrative cloud business from which it gets more than a quarter of its revenue, is expected to post a 24% increase in sales in the quarter. THE FUNDAMENTALS* Microsoft Q2 revenue is expected to rise 2.5% to $53 billion, the slowest increase in six years. * Amazon Q4 revenue is expected to rise 5.8% to $145.40 billion.

☆ Salesforce employees fear deeper cuts now that a second activist investor has a stake. Elliott, the world's most feared hedge fund, has confirmed it wants changes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Feared activist investor Elliott Management now has a multibillion-dollar position in Salesforce. This is the company's second activist investor after Starboard Value disclosed a significant stake in October. Elliott Management — the world's most feared activist investor — now has a multibillion-dollar position in Salesforce, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, and some employees worry Elliott's attention could lead to further layoffs. Elliott is Salesforce's second activist investor after Starboard Value disclosed a significant stake in Salesforce in October. Activist investor firms such as Elliott "are tough," another said.

☆ Salesforce is losing the key execs behind some of its biggest and most expensive bets at a critical moment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is also departing, along with some other product-focused execs. The departing execs championed Salesforce's product strategyThe departures of Taylor, Butterfield, and Nelson come as Salesforce's strategy comes under the microscope on Wall Street. With Slack and Tableau, Salesforce already had a lot to prove. Salesforce has already said that Lidiane Jones, an executive VP, will take over for Butterfield as Slack CEO. What it does mean, however, is that Salesforce, Slack, and Tableau are all losing the biggest champions of the integrated product strategy right as the company faces hard questions.

☆ Marc Benioff's 2023 to-do list after his co-CEO's shocking departure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce is seeing it's co-CEO Bret Taylor depart and facing slowing revenue growth. While earnings beat analyst expectations, it also revealed the slowest revenue growth in the past two years, at 14%. Figure out the future of SlackTaylor's departure also raises questions about Slack, since Taylor spearheaded the $27.7 billion acquisition in 2020. Figure out how to jump-start revenue and land big customersWhile it wasn't a huge shock given the overall economic environment, Salesforce's slowed revenue growth is worrying. Secondly, as part of its larger platform strategy, Salesforce has been going after larger customers and looking to land deals for multiple Salesforce products versus just one or two.

☆ After a brutal year, RBC says investors should buy these 13 top tech names to get a head start on a recovery in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In a rough year for markets, tech stocks have been notably poor performers. That's affected growth rates for many companies — and that, too, worked out unfavorably for tech. The event featured conversations with more than 100 executives from industries, including software, internet, advertising technology, media, and payments processing. One comment in particular about what investors want to see from software companies summed up the general tone for most of tech. The following stocks are the top picks of RBC analysts covering tech stocks.

☆ Zoom cuts annual revenue forecast on slow online business
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Tiyashi Datta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 21 (Reuters) - Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) on Monday lowered its annual revenue forecast, as the video-conferencing platform expects a hit from declining online business. Zoom chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg said during a post-earnings call that the company's online business would decline nearly 8% during the year. The easing of pandemic-related restrictions across the world is also weighing on its business as people started spending less time online. Zoom now expects annual revenue to be between $4.37 billion and $4.38 billion, compared with an earlier outlook of $4.39 billion and $4.40 billion. On an adjusted basis, the pandemic winner earned $1.07 per share during the quarter, compared with estimates of 84 cents, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ Palantir posts slowest revenue growth in two years on sluggish Europe demand
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.N) posted its slowest quarterly growth in revenue since going public in 2020 due to weak demand for its data analytics software in Europe, while a strong dollar weighed on its profit, sending its share down 8.5% on Monday. But in the third quarter, revenue from the segment declined nearly 3% to $204 million from the previous three months, raising doubts among Wall Street analysts about sustained revenue from commercial deals amid rising cost of borrowing. Analysts had expected the Ukraine war to draw in more business to Palantir, but finance chief David Glazer said the timing of new government contracts remained uncertain. Palantir said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $508 million and $510 million, excluding a $5 million forex impact. Analysts on average expect revenue at $502.7 million.

☆ Earnings playbook: How to trade results from Disney and 3 electric car makers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Monday Palantir Technologies is set to report earnings before the bell, followed by a conference call at 8 a.m. Tuesday Disney is set to report earnings after the bell, followed by a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Lucid is set to report earnings after the close, with a management call set for 5:30 p.m. Rivian is set to report earnings after the close, with management holding a call at 5 p.m. Beyond Meat is set to report earnings after the bell, followed by a conference call at 5 pm.

☆ RBC downgrades Twilio on weak guidance, says there are 'mis-execution' concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets are moving to the sidelines when it comes to Twilio. "We are downgrading Twilio to Sector Perform, following weak guidance and a disappointing Analyst Day, which leaves us unable to defend the long-term story," wrote Rishi Jaluria in a Friday note. Disappointing analyst day Then, RBC found Twilio's analyst day to be additionally disappointing instead of being a positive catalyst. Management pulled its previously stated growth target of 30% or more and is now targeting growth of 15% to 25%. Analysts at Cowen also downgraded Twilio to market perform from outperform and cut their price target to $65 from $100.

☆ 14 cloud companies that could be acquired, as PE giants Thoma Bravo and Sunstone prepare to buy UserTesting for $1.3 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma reopened conversations about what's ahead for software startups. More recently, UserTesting is set to be acquired by PE firms Thoma Bravo and Sunstone for $1.3 billion. These are 14 private and public software companies that analysts think could be acquisition targets. On October 27, 2022 private equity giants Thoma Bravo and Sunstone partners announced they intend to acquire UserTesting for $1.3 billion. Here are 15 private and public software companies that analysts and experts think are likely acquisition targets.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with RBC Capital Markets' Rishi Jaluria and Evercore ISI's Mark Mahaney
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | 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 CNBC's full interview with RBC Capital Markets' Rishi Jaluria and Evercore ISI's Mark MahaneyRBC Capital Markets' Rishi Jaluria and Evercore ISI's Mark Mahaney join 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss Google calling out weakness in search and mega cap companies acting on risk concerns.

☆ Google reporting Search weakness could be harbinger for further slowdowns in ad market, says Mark Mahaney
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) 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 EmailGoogle reporting Search weakness could be harbinger for further slowdowns in ad market, says Mark MahaneyRBC Capital Markets' Rishi Jaluria and Evercore ISI's Mark Mahaney join 'Squawk on the Street' to talk Google calling out weakness in Search, mega cap companies acting on risk concerns, and Microsoft and Alphabet print findings.

☆ These 16 cloud-software companies could be acquired by tech giants or private equity as the economy sours, according to RBC analysts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the 16 software firms RBC analysts say are M&A targets for tech giants and private equity. More software M&A is in the forecast as valuations and stock prices continue to drop — and private companies aren't the only ones likely to get gobbled up. Additionally, private-equity firms will likely continue snapping up public cloud-software companies and taking them private while prices are low, according to analysts. "In other words, we believe larger scale debt-financed private-equity takeouts could be unlikely in the near-term," RBC analysts wrote. Here are the 16 software firms that are M&A targets, according to RBC analysts:

☆ The 15 cloud-software companies most likely to be acquired after Adobe's $20 billion Figma deal, according to research analysts and Wall Street experts
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma reopens conversations about what's ahead for software startups. These are 15 private and public software companies that analysts think could be acquisition targets. The Wall Street deal expert spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the business dealings. Other options to build out these platforms internally are limited due to their high cost and the tough funding market, the Wall Street deal expert told Insider. Here are 15 private and public software companies that analysts and experts think are likely acquisition targets.

☆ 8 companies Amazon, Microsoft, or Google might buy as they shop for deals amid the market downturn, including Workday, Unity, and Roku
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

That means Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud could be poised for a merger-and-acquisition spree. As for cloud acquisitions, analysts said Amazon's cloud unit didn't often buy companies. Cybersecurity has been a greater focus for Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud after the hack of the IT-software company SolarWinds in 2020. In 2019, Google purchased the data-analytics company Looker for $2.6 billion in cash under Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. With Kurian at the helm, bringing with him the Oracle acquisition playbook, Google Cloud may now have a bigger M&A appetite.

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