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☆ Insider Today: Tech's biggest lie
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

In recent years, some members of Congress have lacked a basic understanding of technology, let alone something as complex as generative AI. Marc Benioff spent much of the annual Dreamforce conference sounding the alarms on how untrustworthy generative AI is right now. Marc Benioff spent much of the annual Dreamforce conference sounding the alarms on how untrustworthy generative AI is right now. It's International Equal Pay Day. The UN General Assembly created this day in 2019 with "equal pay for work of equal value" in mind.

Persons: Mark Sumersett, isn't, Simon Simard, Daron Acemoglu, Insider's Aki Ito, Acemoglu, hasn't, Aki, It's, Nat Friedman, Rebecca Zisser, Peter Brown, Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Greg Johnson, Gary Reyes, Janette Beckman, Getty, Johnny Nunez, Lynn Goldsmith, Dakarai Akil, Tupac, Akon, Sean Kingston, Gucci Mane, There's, Carly Pearce, Valter Longo, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, MIT, Renaissance Technologies, Bloomberg Beta, McAfee, Oakland Tribune Staff, Interscope Records, Academy of Country, FOX, UN, Assembly, Getty Locations: Wall, Silicon, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ Salesforce turns to 'boomerangs,' luring back former execs to help reignite growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Marc Benioff, chief executive officer of Salesforce.com Inc., right, greets attendees after a keynote at the company's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2023. Ariel Kelman had been away from Salesforce for over a decade, when he received a direct message on Twitter from CEO Marc Benioff earlier this year. "I just thought it was good timing," Kelman said in an interview at Salesforce's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco last week. Kelman spent the few months prior running marketing at a startup called Fireblocks before rejoining Salesforce in June as chief marketing officer. Kelman and Milano are among at least eight ex-Salesforce execs who have rejoined the gang in 2023, as the company approaches its 25th birthday.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Benioff, Ariel Kelman, who'd, Kelman, Miguel Milano, Milano, Brian Millham, Millham, Dreamforce . Kelman, Salesforce, Bret Taylor, it's Organizations: Salesforce.com Inc, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, Salesforce's, Salesforce, CNBC Locations: San Francisco, Salesforce, Madrid

☆ These are the 11 sectors that comprise the S&P 500 — and the stocks we own in each
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +28 min

.GSPF YTD mountain S & P 500 Financials Sector YTD performance Club stocks in the Financials sector: Morgan Stanley ( MS): The bank's services include investment banking, wealth management and investment management. Communication Services Sector market weight: 8.85% Market cap: $3.3 trillion YTD performance: up 44.5% Industries: Diversified telecommunication services; entertainment; interactive media & services; media; wireless telecommunication services. .GSPTS YTD mountain S & P 500 Communication Services Sector YTD performance Club stocks in the Communication Services sector: Walt Disney (DIS): The entertainment giant reported another mixed quarter last month, even against low expectations. Real estate Sector market weight: 2.44% Market cap: $909 billion YTD performance: up 0.9% Industries: Equity real estate investment trusts; real estate management & development. .SPLRCR YTD mountain S & P 500 Real Estate Sector YTD performance While we don't own any real estate stocks, investors have historically invested in the sector for its reliable cash flow from income-generating properties.

Persons: Jim Cramer's, Jim, Salesforce, reenergized, Marc Benioff, Wolfe, Palo, Eli Lilly, Cantor Fitzgerald, Bausch, bioprocessing, Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley's, Eaton Vance, Wells Fargo, Wells, TJX, Wynn, Locker, We've, Mary Dillon, Walt Disney, Bob Iger's, Emerson, Davidson, Vimal Kapur, Stanley Black, Decker, Estee Lauder, Gillette —, Elliott, Coterra, Linde, Jim Cramer, Mandel Ngan Organizations: Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust, CNBC, Club, Technology Sector, Industries, Communications, Technology, Information Technology, Apple, Wedbush Securities, Microsoft, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Nvidia, Broadcom, VMware, Palo Alto Networks, Wolfe Research, Palo Alto, Oracle, Mizuho, Amazon Web Services, Google, Health Care, Biotechnology, Health, Bausch Health, Leerink Partners, GE Healthcare Technologies, General Electric, GE, Financials, Bank of America, United Auto Workers, Detroit, Ford, Starbucks, TJX, Marshalls, Wynn Resorts, WYNN, Communication Services, Communication, Hollywood, Charter Communications, Disney, JMP Securities, Facebook, Industrials, Aerospace, Emerson, Caterpillar, Honeywell, Consumer Staples Sector, Consumer, Consumer Staples, Costco Wholesale, Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Constellation Brands, Corona, Modelo, Pacifico, Elliott Management, Energy Sector, Energy, Coterra Energy, Natural Resources, West Texas, Utilities Sector, Electric, Companies, Sempra Energy, Materials, Chemicals, Linde, LIN, DuPont, Sector, Equity, Real, Jim Cramer's Charitable, New York Stock Exchange, AFP, Getty Locations: U.S, FactSet, bioprocessing, Wells Fargo, China, Maxx, Macao, Asia, Pacifico —, California, Texas

☆ Cramer: The 4 fears that are upsetting the market and what needs to happen next
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Nike, under CEO John Donahoe, continued its total dominance that it had under previous leaders Mark Parker and Phil Knight. I really, really like Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and we are going to see a very strong executive make decisions now that Howard is gone. Apple weakness just casts a pall over everything. We have had weakness in the banks on fears of more regulation and that's only getting worse. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Persons: Let's, John Donahoe, Mark Parker, Phil Knight, It's, Armour, Nike's, Locker, Mary Dillon, Kevin Johnson, Howard Schultz, Schultz, Bob Iger, Robert Chapek —, Johnson, Chapek, Laxman Narasimhan, Howard, Gina Raimondo, Apple —, Stellantis, Joe Biden, Shawn Fain, Safra, Marc Benioff couldn't, LEN, Darden, it's, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Bill Pugliano Organizations: Nike, Adidas, Armour, Dick's Sporting, China, Disney, Apple, Micron, Qualcomm, Starbucks, United Auto Workers, Detroit, —, Motors, Chrysler, Ford, walkouts, U.S, UAW, Oracle, Marriott, Booking Holdings, Federal, FedEx, KB, Jim Cramer's Charitable, CNBC, General Motors, Big, Getty Locations: China, Europe, American, United States, Oracle's, Detroit , Michigan

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says AI models have 'stolen' copyrighted content from media companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's message to companies interested in generative AI is clear: the technology can't be trusted yet. Benioff spent much of the conference issuing ominous warnings about the perils of generative AI while simultaneously touting his own company's new technology as ethical and secure. "We're not scraping the Internet with our models, if that's your question," Benioff told me Wednesday afternoon. Salesforce has "an open philosophy" regarding the development of large language models (LLMs), Benioff said, building some on top of pre-existing models and building others from scratch. Baxter said that Salesforce only uses customer data with consent and performs legal reviews before using any open-source data for AI model training.

Persons: Marc Benioff's, Benioff, Sam Altman —, else's, Salesforce, it's, Kathy Baxter, Baxter Organizations: Yerba Buena Center, Arts, Apex, Time Magazine, Media Locations: San Francisco

☆ Oracle buddies up with Microsoft. Plus our take on Salesforce and Meta news
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

A new partnership between Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL) has the potential to benefit both Club holdings in the competitive cloud-computing landscape. Oracle, a database pioneer with more than 40 years of history operating in the market, had existing offerings geared toward Azure customers . Wall Street analysts were generally upbeat on the implications for Microsoft and Oracle, which joined the Club's portfolio a month ago. Analysts at Bernstein downplayed concerns that the deeper partnership with Microsoft will hurt Oracle's fast-growing cloud-computing service, known as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. "This partnership also lowers the potential risk of Microsoft trying to target Oracle database customers to move off Oracle.

Persons: —, Satya Nadella, Larry Ellison, Bernstein, prem workloads, Ellison, Oracle's, Salesforce, Brian Millham, Marc Benioff, Will Cathcart, there's, Mark Zuckerberg, Jim Cramer, WhatsApp, Susan Li, Jim Cramer's, Jim, Justin Sullivan Organizations: Microsoft, Oracle, Oracle Autonomous Database, Wall Street, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Web Services, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Companies, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Meta Platforms, Meta, Facebook, CNBC Locations: Salesforce, San Francisco, Redwood Shores , California

☆ Salesforce is hiring over 3,000 people, despite axing 10% of staff in brutal job cuts earlier in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce will look to hire around 3,000 new employees, CEO Marc Benioff told Bloomberg this week. The company announced plans to lay off 10% of its staff earlier this year in a major cost-cutting effort. Benioff is now urging former staff who joined other firms to return to the company. Millham told Bloomberg: "We have some very successful parts of our business right now, and we want a surge in those areas." Benioff told Bloomberg that he is hoping to attract significant numbers of "boomerangs" — employees who previously worked at Salesforce and moved to other firms — to return to the company in the new hiring drive.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Brian Millham, Millham, Ashley Stewart, Benioff Organizations: Bloomberg, Service, Bloomberg News, Employees Locations: Wall, Silicon, San Francisco, Salesforce

☆ Salesforce launches AI assistant across its apps including Slack and Tableau
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company logo for Salesforce.com is displayed on the Salesforce Tower in New York City, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSept 12 (Reuters) - Enterprise software maker Salesforce (CRM.N) on Tuesday launched a generative AI tool that would be available across its suite of apps from instant messaging service Slack to data visualization tool Tableau and can be tailored by its clients to meet their needs. Salesforce says its Einstein Copilot can tap customer and enterprise data available on its Data Cloud to generate appropriate responses. Users will be able to embed the assistant into their websites or integrate them with messaging platforms such as Slack and Meta Platform's (META.O) WhatsApp. The company also doubled its venture capital fund for generative AI startups to $500 million in June.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Slack, Einstein, Salesforce, Marc Benioff, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Zaheer Kachwala, Tasim Zahid Organizations: REUTERS, Enterprise, Tuesday, Meta, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, San Francisco, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce CEO: 'Slack is going to be the promise of AI for a lot of our most important customers'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Salesforce CEO: 'Slack is going to be the promise of AI for a lot of our most important customers'Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff sits down with 'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer to talk AI application, what's next for Slack, the Dreamforce conference and more.

Persons: Slack, Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, what's

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: When I talk to CEOs they are all Slack-first
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | 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: When I talk to CEOs they are all Slack-firstSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff sits down with 'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer to talk AI application, what's next for Slack, the Dreamforce conference and more.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, what's, Slack

☆ Salesforce CEO says Slack will play a prominent role in AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Tuesday that its messaging program Slack will not only have its own AI, but will be used by some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence. "The big news is Slack is really starting to wake up with its own AI," Benioff said. "If you go talk to any of these great, new AI companies," Benioff continued, listing OpenAI, Cohere and Anthropic, "They are all Slack first companies, they all built their product with Slack." He stressed that while the program is learning from customers' data, it is protecting that data with a "trust layer." "Einstein will do a trillion transactions for our customers this week in AI, but we never look at the customers' data."

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

☆ One of the last Club names reports earnings after the bell. Here's where Jim Cramer is on the stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. 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.

Persons: Jim Cramer, Marc Benioff, We'll, Meta, Jim Cramer's, Jim Organizations: CNBC, Nasdaq, Apple, Google, UAW, Meta, Wall Street, Nvidia, Microsoft, Oracle, Citi, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Deutsche Bank Locations: China, San Francisco

☆ Insider Today: Gen Z is out on college
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter. In today's big story, we're looking at why college isn't part of the plan for some Gen Zers. Between skyrocketing tuition costs and underwhelming salaries, some Gen Zers are skipping college altogether, writes Charlotte Lytton. A recent survey found that 40% of business leaders think recent Gen Z college grads are unprepared when they enter the workforce. The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, senior editor and anchor, in New York City.

Persons: Dan DeFrancesco, weren't, Zers, Chelsea Jia Feng, Zers aren't, Charlotte Lytton, It's, Alix Earle, NFTs, TikTok hasn't, Earle, Alix Earle's TikToks, @alixearle, Spencer Platt, Goldman Sachs, we've, David Rosenberg, Rosenberg, Kevin Dietsch, Marc Benioff, they're begrudgingly, Arantza Pena Popo, Corizon, Sen, Elizabeth Warren, James Webb, Stephen King, Holly Gibner, Rice, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, Electric, Wall, Tech, University of Miami, Getty, JPMorgan, Amazon, James, James Webb Telescope, Hubble, NASA, ESA, CSA, Costco, Kirkland Locations: Wall, Silicon, NFTs, Blackstone, Bridgewater, Seoul, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ Salesforce isn't planning another 'major' round of layoffs and is hiring for critical roles, it says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

CEO Marc Benioff says he's got no plans for another big round of cuts and hopes layoffs are done. So on this week's call, Benioff took time to thank and wax poetic on all the former Salesforce employees who returned to work at the company during its turnaround effort. Former chief business officer Ebony Beckwith, a longtime executive who led the company's philanthropic foundation, quietly exited Salesforce in June. "We're ramping up hiring for critical roles," a spokesperson for Salesforce wrote to Insider via email when asked for clarification on Benioff's comments. At the same time, if former and current Salesforce employees are feeling whiplashed — told to leave and then told to come back — it's because the message coming from the top is mixed.

Persons: Marc Benioff, he's, Salesforce, Benioff, we've, It's, Ariel Kelman, Benioff's, Bret Taylor, Slack, Stewart Butterfield, Mark Nelson, Brent Hyder, Ebony Beckwith, Salespeople, Karl Keirstad, we're, whiplashed —, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Oracle, UBS, ethomas Locations: Salesforce

"This quarter puts Salesforce in a league of its own and isn't being appreciated nearly enough at these prices," Jim says. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce's year-to-date stock performance. That is likely why Salesforce stock traded at a valuation "well below" its peers, Smith argued at the time. For context, here's the full list of Salesforce peers included Starboard's presentation: Club holding Microsoft 's (MSFT) productivity and business processes segment, Adobe, Club holding Oracle (ORCL), Intuit (INTU), ServiceNow, Workday and SAP (SAP). Importantly, that $265 target is strictly the result of applying current average peer valuation to Salesforce's current growth/profit mix.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, Jim, Salesforce, Jeff Smith —, Smith, Salesforce's, —, it's, Jim Cramer's, Patrick T Organizations: —, Club, ServiceNow, Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, Intuit, SAP, CRM, CNBC, Salesforce.com Inc, Global Technology, Fallon, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: That's, TurboTax, Salesforce's, Laguna Beach , California, U.S

☆ Salesforce rallies as profitability push pays off
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company logo for Salesforce.com is displayed on the Salesforce Tower in New York City, U.S., March 7, 2019. Salesforce raised its annual forecast for adjusted operating margin on Wednesday to about 30% from 28%, with CFO Amy Weaver stressing the new figure "is a floor, not a ceiling". Wall Street analysts lauded the move, noting the benefits from an aggressive profitability push at a company that has traditionally focused on growing bigger through acquisitions. While the 11% rise in second-quarter revenue was much slower than historic growth rates of around 20% to 30%, the figure breezed past Wall Street expectations, and Salesforce also raised its annual revenue forecast. Salesforce trades at 25 times its forward 12 months earnings estimates, compared with the industry median of 15.14.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Salesforce, Amy Weaver, Marc Benioff, Raymond James said, Raymond James, Aditya Soni, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: REUTERS, Wall Street, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce beats on top and bottom lines. What the pros are saying about the stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Christina Falso | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Market Movers rounded up the latest reactions on Salesforce from investors and analysts. The pros discussed the software company's latest quarterly results , which were released after the closing bell Wednesday. Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan raised his price target by $15 to $340 per share , implying the stock having upside of 58%. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said he sees potential ahead via artificial intelligence. The stock is currently held in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust portfolio.

Persons: Salesforce, Goldman Sachs, Kash Rangan, Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer's Organizations: Trust

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tilray, Salesforce, CrowdStrike, Dollar General and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce — The cloud software company saw its stock jump 3% after it announced quarterly results and guidance that surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Dollar General — The discount retail chain plunged 12.2% Thursday after reporting second-quarter earnings per share of $2.13, which was lower than the StreetAccount consensus estimate of $2.47. Ciena — The network equipment stock surged nearly 16% after topping Wall Street's fiscal third-quarter earnings expectations on the top and bottom lines. Okta — Okta shares surged 13.5% after the access management company topped analysts' second-quarter earnings expectation and issued a strong full-year outlook. Victoria's Secret — The intimate apparel stock popped nearly 7% even after missing second-quarter earnings expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, CrowdStrike, Ciena, Morgan Stanley, Shopify, StreetAccount, Chewy, UGI, Raymond James, —, Macheel, Sarah Min, Yun Li, Alex Harring, Michelle Fox, Pia Singh, Jesse Pound Organizations: Aphria Inc, U.S . Department of Health, Human Services, Tilray Brands, Cronos, Revenue, Technologies, Arista Networks, Citi, Refinitiv, StreetAccount, Signet, UBS — U.S, Suisse Locations: Leamington , Ontario, Switzerland

☆ Salesforce lifts annual forecast as business software demand stays strong
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Zaheer Kachwala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier Acquire Licensing RightsAug 30 (Reuters) - Salesforce (CRM.N) raised its annual revenue forecast on Wednesday and projected quarterly sales above estimates as it benefits from a recent price hike and resilient demand for its cloud and business software offerings in an uncertain economy. The company expects revenue to be between $8.70 billion and $8.72 billion in the third quarter, compared with estimates of $8.66 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Its quarterly earnings per share forecast was also above estimates. Salesforce also bumped up its annual revenue forecast to between $34.7 billion and $34.8 billion, from the $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion range given in May. In the second quarter, revenue came in at $8.60 billion, beating expectations of $8.53 billion.

Persons: Porte, Benoit Tessier, Salesforce, Slack, Einstein, Marc Benioff, Charlie Miner, Zaheer Kachwala, Maju Samuel Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Google, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce shrugs off growth concerns as reenergized CEO Benioff lifts guidance
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Non-GAAP earnings-per-share (EPS) of $2.12 grew 78% from last year and beat the $1.90-per-share EPS predicted by analysts, Refinitiv data showed. While the solid margin beat and upside to earnings are similar to what Salesforce reported back in May, one key difference this time was the increased revenue outlook. It now expects to hit $34.7 billion to $34.8 billion, up from $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion. Salesforce raised its GAAP EPS range to $3.50 to $3.52, up from $2.67 to $2.69, and non-GAAP EPS range to $8.04 to $8.06, up from $7.41 to $7.43. Salesforce also expects its cPRO to grow slightly above 11% from last year and that's slightly better than estimates of 10.8% growth.

Persons: Refinitiv ., Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Brian Millham, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Fabrice Coffrini Organizations: Revenue, CNBC, Economic, Afp, Getty Locations: Salesforce, Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Davos, Switzerland

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff thanked 'boomerang' employees for the company's turnaround
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CEO Marc Benioff thanked "boomerangs," employees who left and came back, for the fast-tracked growth. Salesforce overachieved its profit margin goals in the second quarter, earlier than planned for — and CEO Marc Benioff says "boomerang" employees played a big part in the results. Three high-profile Salesforce boomerangs have re-joined the company in recent months: president and chief revenue officer Miguel Milano, chief marketing officer Ariel Kelman, and chief business officer and chief of staff to Marc Benioff, Kendall Collins. Collins worked for Salesforce from 2004 to 2012, leaving as executive vice president of Salesforce Cloud. Over the last decade, he has worked in various roles across the tech industry, most recently as chief marketing officer of Okta.

Persons: Marc Benioff, boomerangs, Benioff, Salesforce, It's, Miguel Milano, Ariel Kelman, Kendall Collins, Milano, Celonis, Kelman, Collins, Ellen Thomas Organizations: —, Salesforce International, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, AWS, Salesforce, ethomas Locations: Salesforce

☆ Salesforce shares pop on earnings beat and optimistic forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Here's how the company did:Earnings: $2.12 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.90 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. $2.12 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.90 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. For the current quarter, Salesforce called for $2.05 to $2.06 in adjusted earnings per share on $8.7 billion to $8.72 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected adjusted earnings of $1.83 per share and $8.66 billion in sales. It now sees $8.04 to $8.06 in adjusted earnings per share on $34.7 billion to $34.8 billion in revenue, implying 11% revenue growth.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Amy Weaver, Weaver, Refinitiv Organizations: Allen & Company Sun Valley Locations: Sun Valley , Idaho, Refinitiv, U.S

☆ After Salesforce hiked its product prices by an average of 9%, some unhappy customers are considering switching to Microsoft or HubSpot
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Already, consultants see Salesforce customers scrambling to address these price hikes. Jon Winsett, CEO and managing partner at Atlanta-based IT spending advisory NPI Financial, said his firm immediately alerted all its clients to the price increase news. "We were working with one of our accounts right as the price increase was announced, and they were gobsmacked," Winsett said. Customer relationship management software company HubSpot uses customer self-service to sell its software — a stark contrast from Salesforce's sales-driven culture. You don't need a full-time Salesforce admin when you're a HubSpot customer.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Adam Mansfield, — they're, HubSpot, Bernstein, Mark Moerdler, Moerdler, Jon Winsett, Winsett, Microsoft Mansfield, Mansfield, Satya Nadella Justin Sullivan, OpenAI, I've, we're, you've, that's, Yamini Rangan, HubSpot Matt Winkelmeyer, Rishi Jaluria, he'd, Jaluria Organizations: Wall Street, Microsoft, Cloud, Industries, Management, RBC Capital, Salesforce Locations: Salesforce, Atlanta, ChatGPT

☆ After layoffs, cost cuts and a price increase, Salesforce has exceeded a 30% profit margin — exactly what its activist investors wanted to see
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Salesforce reported a 31.6% profit margin on Wednesday for its Q2 FY '24, raising annual guidance to 30%. Activist investor Starboard Value last year called on Salesforce to up its profit margins. A leaked plan said Salesforce aimed to deliver above a 30% margin by fiscal 2025. That plan outlined a goal to reach above 30% profit margins in fiscal 2025. Starboard noted that Salesforce should have profit margins of at least 30% — exactly what the company delivered Wednesday.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Benioff, It's, it's, Wedbush's Daniel Ives, Ives, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Morning, Oracle, Microsoft, ethomas Locations: Salesforce

☆ Billionaire CEOs said working from home made them happier. Some now want to fire workers who don't show up to the office.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Meta CEO told staff they could expect him to spend half of the next year working remotely. True to his word, in his first week Musk banned remote work in a 2:30 a.m email to Twitter staff. Still: Unlike some of the other wealthy CEOs on this list, Eric Yuan has always been a little skeptical of permanent remote work. Roy RochlinSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff was initially outspoken in his support for remote working. Joining the growing list of CEOs that say remote work is not conducive to productivity, Salesforce revised its work-from-anywhere strategy.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Goldman Sachs, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Zuckerberg, Meta, I've, Erin Scott, Skip, Insider's Kali Hays, Hugh Langley, Evan Spiegel, Miranda Kerr, Pierre Mouton, Stringer, Spiegel, I'm, ERIC PIERMONT, Kali Hays, Jack Dorsey, PRAKASH SINGH, lockdowns, Dorsey, Elon Musk, Musk, Zoe Schiffer, hasn't, Eric Yuan, Kena, Zoom, Kelly Steckelberg, Yuan, Marc Benioff, Roy Rochlin, Salesforce, Benioff, Justin Sullivan, Kara Swisher Organizations: Service, Meta, Harvard Business School, Wall Street, Staff, CNBC, Getty, Twitter, San, New, Elon, San Francisco, Bloomberg, Zoom, Workers, MarketWatch, Smith, Yahoo Finance, Insider Locations: Wall, Silicon, San Francisco, Singapore, Silicon Valley , California

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