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☆ Salesforce engineers are about to be hit with new performance metrics, while some salespeople are being pressured to quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some Salesforce employees have been offered a "Prompt Exit Package" instead of a layoff, with less severance. Employees say the company is ratcheting up performance expectations as activist investors invade. "The company is pushing hard for productivity tracking and metrics on all facets," one employee told Insider. Salesforce cut a few hundred salespeople in November, a person familiar with the matter told Insider, and the company told Insider the cuts were made for "accountability," implying that performance was a consideration. In some cases, the company has presented employees with PEP offers in the same week it has executed mass layoffs, employees told Insider.

☆ KKR can limit the pain of Elliott's telco blitz
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Even so, KKR and Vodafone look insulated from the worst sort of Teutonic deal pain. Still, KKR – which has joined forces with Global Infrastructure Partners and will co-control Vantage with Vodafone – has some protections. Reuters GraphicsFollow @pamela_msg on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSActivist investor Elliott Management disclosed a 5.6% stake in German phone masts company Vantage Towers on Jan. 31. The offer was recommended by Vantage Towers' management and supervisory board. Vantage Towers’ Chief Executive Vivek Badrinath is set to depart due to personal reasons.

☆ 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.

☆ Jim Cramer gives his take on Salesforce and the five activist investor firms with stakes in the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | 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 EmailJim Cramer gives his take on Salesforce and the five activist investor firms with stakes in the companyCramer said that Elliott Management could create a 'storm' for Salesforce.

☆ PayPal CEO Dan Schulman to leave at end of 2023, company begins search for successor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Dan Schulman, CEO of Paypal, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 10, 2019. PayPal said on Thursday that CEO and president Dan Schulman will retire and leave the company at the end 2023. Schulman, who became PayPal CEO after the split from eBay in 2015, notified the company of his decision to retire at the end of December. He will remain a member of PayPal's board of directors, which is hiring a search firm to find a successor. PayPal shares jumped by about 130% since the 2015 spinoff.

Marc Benioff, cofounder and CEO of Salesforce, attends a session at the Congress centre during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, 2023. Dan Loeb's hedge fund Third Point has built a position in Salesforce , expanding the group of activists circling the business software maker, CNBC has confirmed. The news comes two weeks after Salesforce said ValueAct Capital CEO Mason Morfit will join its board in March. Since, which joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2020, has faced high-profile departures and slowing revenue growth of late and dealt with criticism for buying companies such as Slack and Tableau at high multiples. On Jan. 4, Salesforce shares rose more than 3% after the company announced a plan to cut 10% of employees.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Sonos, Salesforce, Disney, Credit Suisse and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sonos — Shares surged 17% after Sonos reported a big beat in its fiscal first-quarter results. The audio products developer posted per-share earnings of 57 cents, compared to consensus estimates of 40 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Affirm Holdings — The buy now, pay later finance company slumped 20% a day after its fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue missed analysts' estimates, according to Refinitiv. Revenue and earnings were both below analysts' estimates, according to Refinitiv. Credit Suisse Group — Shares plunged 14% after the Swiss bank reported a fourth-quarter and annual net loss that missed estimates, according to Eikon.

☆ Third Point owns Salesforce stake, talks Bath & Body Works changes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Third Point declined to comment on its stake, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. These firms have said publicly and privately that they would like to see changes at Salesforce. Third Point on Wednesday updated its own investors about other investments, including one in Bath & Body Works (BBWI.N) , where the firm hinted last year that it might mount a boardroom challenge. In the letter, Third Point's founder billionaire investor Daniel Loeb wrote that he sees a chance to work "constructively" with Bath & Body Works to "address its apparent governance issues and help it realize its significant potential." Last years biggest losers included Walt Disney Co and Amazon.com while Bath & Body Works counted among its biggest winners.

☆ Pinterest shares plunge as much as 12% on fourth-quarter revenue miss and weak forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Pinterest shares sank as much as 12% after the company reported revenue that missed analyst expectations and issued a light forecast for the first quarter. Pinterest recorded net income of $17 million in the fourth quarter, but logged a net loss of $96 million for 2022. Its average revenue per user, or ARPU, for the U.S. and Canada region rose 6% in the fourth quarter to $7.60 from a year ago. Additionally, revenue in Alphabet's YouTube unit sank 8% year-over-year to $7.96 billion in the fourth quarter. Snap said its sales in the fourth quarter was slightly up year-over-year to $1.30 billion, which missed analyst expectations of $1.31 billion.

☆ Here’s our February rapid-fire update on all 34 stocks in Jim Cramer’s Investing Club portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Matthew J. Belvedere | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Here's a rapid-fire update on all 34 stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust, the holdings we manage in the CNBC Investing Club. J & J is a good stock to get into ahead of the impending split into two companies: consumer brands and pharma/medical technology. The company reported a good quarter and guidance, while fundamentals are solid ahead of the split. 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.

☆ As Expected, Salesforce's Latest Cuts Impact Sales Teams
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Insiders expected sales teams to be cut in February after the end of the fiscal year, they recently told Insider. Like most companies who sell software to businesses, the fourth quarter is traditionally its biggest sales quarter as sales people push their clients to sign contracts to make sales quotas. It's unclear how many employees Salesforce laid off this time. Execs have repeatedly told employees, through emails and all-hands meetings, to expect rounds of layoffs to last for weeks, Insider reported. Salesforce laid off a few hundred salespeople in November, a person familiar with the matter told Insider.

On Tuesday, Western Digital CEO David Goeckeler said the partnership with Apollo and Elliott would help "facilitate the next stages of Western Digital's strategic review." The latest investment is a precursor to a potential merger between Silicon Valley-based Western Digital and Japan's Kioxia Holdings Corp, according to people familiar with the matter. The sources, who requested anonymity as these discussions are confidential, said the talks between Western Digital and Kioxia are still active. Western Digital and Kioxia jointly produce NAND chips, which are widely used in smartphones, TVs, data center servers and public announcement display panels. Qatalyst Partners, Lazard and J.P. Morgan are serving as Western Digital's financial advisers and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as Western Digital's legal adviser.

☆ Tokyo booms for shareholder-relations advisers as activists raise pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Men walk past an electric board displaying Nikkei and other countries' indexes outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan January 16, 2023. At that company, activist shareholders have forced board changes, rejected the management's turnaround plan and prompted the company to consider going private to remove them. Shareholder relations advisers do that, too, and they say they are generally more focused on longer-term strategies. EY announced a foray into shareholder relations in Japan in December, with a full-service line-up from identification of shareholders to proxy solicitation. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp said it would continue to expand its shareholder-relations support unit, Japan Shareholder Services Ltd (JSS), which now has about 80 staff members.

☆ Salesforce Can Bid Aloha to Big Deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Marc Benioff co-founded Salesforce and has run it for more than two decades. Much is uncertain at Salesforce these days, save for this: The days of the company chasing major M&A deals are over for a long while. The cloud software pioneer is experiencing the most significant slowdown in its history and has thus drawn the attention of activist investors. The latest is Elliott Management, which confirmed a major stake in the company earlier this week. It is already preparing an alternative slate of directors for the company’s board, according to The Wall Street Journal.

☆ 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.

☆ As Deal Making Picks Up, Tech Chiefs Worry About Software Integration
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

That is a potentially costly process that can require overhauling existing enterprise tech stacks, or even hiring high-priced experts to manage new IT tools, analysts said. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS How can tech executives smooth the integration of new digital tools when their vendors make acquisitions? Hewlett Packard Enterprise this month said it acquired Pachyderm and would integrate new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. HPE this month said it acquired Pachyderm, a San Francisco-based software startup, and would integrate the new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. “Our existing customer base will want to know they won’t be forced to replace an existing technology they already buy,” Mr. Hotard said.

☆ Elliott Prepares to Nominate Slate of Directors at Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Lauren Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Activists are swarming around Salesforce, which has been through a turbulent stretch. Activist investor Elliott Management Corp. is preparing to nominate a slate of directors at Salesforce Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in a sign that a battle for board seats at the business-software maker may be looming. Elliott is having conversations with numerous technology executives as well as those with other industry backgrounds, the people said.

☆ 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.

☆ Inside homebuilding heir Bill Pulte's battle against a Twitter troll who turned out to be an executive at his former company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Bill Pulte, the grandson of one of the homebuilding industry's most successful founders, has built a Twitter following of 3.2 million. He's such a believer in Twitter that the Pulte family office participated in Tesla CEO Elon Musk's bid for control, with an investment he says in the "millions of dollars." Pulte alleges that Jones used Twitter bots to harass him and the larger Pulte family with damaging, incendiary accusations, including that his father, Mark Pulte, was an arsonist. Additionally, he said Sheldon's account appeared to have interacted with at least one of Jones' Twitter accounts. With his suspicion that multiple executives were involved in the Twitter harassment, Pulte's digging in his heels.

☆ Op-ed: Salesforce appoints ValueAct’s Morfit to its board and a proxy fight may loom ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The firm's principals are generally on the boards of half of ValueAct's core portfolio positions and have had 55 public company board seats over 22 years. Adding Morfit to the board of Salesforce makes a ton of sense regardless of the activist environment. Morfit has experience helping management increase both growth and margins from a board level, and both can be improved at Salesforce. The looming question is whether he will initially be doing this with an activist cloud hanging over the company's head in the form of a proxy fight by one of the other activists involved. It likely had been engaging with Salesforce management for several months, and this appointment may have happened just as a threatened proxy fight was reported.

☆ Activist Elliott to nominate directors at Salesforce -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Elliott Management Corp, the activist investment firm that recently made a multimillion-dollar investment in Salesforce (CRM.N), plans to nominate several director candidates at the cloud-based software company, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Elliott, which invests more than $55 billion, is currently interviewing a number of people including technology industry executives and executives in other industries, the people said. Elliott 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). News that Elliott expects to nominate directors, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, came after Bloomberg reported Salesforce was considering refreshing its board, a step some companies take preemptively if activists start building holdings of their shares. At Salesforce there are at least four activist investors including Elliott, Starboard Value, Jeff Ubben's Inclusive Capital and ValueAct, the firm Ubben founded and which is now run by Mason Morfit, sources familiar with the matter said.

☆ 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.

☆ Tech Chiefs Fear ‘Frankenstein’ Software Integrations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Microsoft Corp. this month said it plans to incorporate AI into all of its enterprise software, while boosting its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the startup behind chatbot ChatGPT. That is a potentially costly process that can require overhauling existing enterprise tech stacks, or even hiring high-priced experts to manage new IT tools, analysts said. Hewlett Packard Enterprise this month said it acquired Pachyderm and would integrate new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. HPE this month said it acquired Pachyderm, a San Francisco-based software startup, and would integrate the new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. “Our existing customer base will want to know they won’t be forced to replace an existing technology they already buy,” Mr. Hotard said.

☆ Actor Matthew McConaughey and musician Will.i.am are often involved in company strategy discussions at Salesforce, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Matthew McConaughey and Will.i.am have taken part in corporate strategy discussions at Salesforce, the FT reported. The FT reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that actor McConaughey and musician and producer Will.i.am are often included in business conversations. McConaughey, meanwhile, has been heavily involved in Salesforce's advertising in recent years, including appearing in its 2022 Super Bowl commercial. According to a different source cited by the FT, McConaughey and Will.i.am are only involved in informal conversations in the business, not meetings around corporate strategy. Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider about Will.i.am and McConaughey's apparent involvement in corporate discussions.

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