Elliott Management acquired a significant stake in Salesforce, the Wall Street Journal reports. The activist investor may influence the company considerably.
Elliott Management reportedly took a 3.3 percent stake, representing a multi-billion dollar investment. The exact figure was not disclosed.
Elliott Management targets tech companies. The activist investor often seeks a seat on the board and influences organizations to make management and operational changes.
Confidence in Mark Benioff
Elliott Management says it’s looking forward to the partnership. The investor claims it wants to extract “more value” from the company.
Eliott Management expressed confidence in Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff and his marketing of the company over the past two decades, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Activist investors
Elliott Management isn’t the only activist investor with a stake in Salesforce. Late last October, activist investor Starboard Value LP invested an undisclosed amount in the CRM and cloud giant.
At the time, Starboard indicated that Salesforce’s growth and profitability lagged behind equivalent companies.
Hard times
Elliott’s investment comes at a difficult time for Salesforce. The organization recently announced a layoff round affecting 10 percent of its personnel. According to Benioff, the round is due to economic uncertainty and customers reducing software investments.
When software sales soared at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Salesforce recruited large amounts of employees, resulting in unsustainable staffing costs two years later.
There are signs of unrest in the organization’s management. Co-CEO Bret Taylor announced his leave at the end of January 2023. Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of daughter company Slack, announced his departure shortly after.
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