Elliott Management, an activist investor, has taken a multibillion-dollar stake in Salesforce, a leading software company.
This comes at a tumultuous time for Salesforce, which has recently undergone major layoffs, and seen the departure of key executives, including co-CEO Bret Taylor. The company’s stock price has also dropped by around 50% since its November 2021 high-water mark.
Activist investors typically take a stake in a company with the goal of making changes to improve efficiency and increase shareholder value, which can include pushing for CEO changes or even selling the company. Another activist investor, Starboard Value, also took a significant stake in Salesforce in October, stating it wanted more operational discipline from the company.
It is unclear how having two activists in play at the same time will work out or if the two firms’ strategies will align.
Salesforce has already taken steps to improve efficiency, such as laying off 10% of its employees, but these investors may demand deeper cuts. In a statement, the managing partner of Elliott Management, Jesse Cohn, said that they have developed a deep respect for Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and what he has built and looks forward to working constructively to realize the value befitting the company.
Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses manage their sales, customer service, and marketing efforts. It is a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that includes a variety of tools for managing customer data, automating sales and marketing processes, and providing customer service and support. Salesforce also offers a number of integrations and third-party apps that can be used to customize the platform to fit the specific needs of a business.
