Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had noted in September that the company cut 4,000 customer support jobs, replacing them with AI agents|World Economic Forum|CC BY-SA 2.0
Salesforce stock rose 2% in after-hours trading yesterday after the cloud software company posted strong third-quarter results and fourth-quarter revenue guidance that beat expectations.
Revenue was essentially in line at $10.26 billion, up 8.6% year over year. Net income rose sharply, helped by a $263 million gain from strategic investments.
For Q4, Salesforce projects $11.13 billion–$11.23 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of about $3.02–$3.04.
Analysts say the forecast implies an 11–12% growth, with 3 points from data management firm Informatica, which was acquired for $8 billion in November.
Despite these strong results, Salesforce shares remain down 29% this year amid investor concerns that AI could displace some of its software capabilities.
A few months back, CEO Marc Benioff noted that Salesforce cut around 4,000 customer support jobs as more AI agents took up the roles.