Salesforce cuts about 1,000 jobs in major round of layoffs

Salesforce plans to lay off 2,500 employees or more, for “performance” issues,
Protocol reported citing people in the know.

Several hundred others are likely to be put on a 30-day review, with the aim to let them go after a month, the report said.

Confirming the development,
Salesforce in a statement to CNBC said, “Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.”

It, however, said that the job cuts affected “less than a thousand” employees.

The company had 73,541 people on its payroll earlier this year.

In August, Salesforce said in a filing that headcount rose 36% in the past year “to meet the higher demand for services from our customers”.

According to Protocol, Salesforce previously laid off roughly 90 contract workers and implemented a hiring freeze through January 2023.

“Investors are increasingly demanding a greater return from Salesforce, which has always funneled its profits toward growth, including spending billions to acquire companies like Slack and Tableau,” the report mentioned.

Salesforce is also reportedly facing pressure from activist investor Starboard. Microsoft, one of Salesforce’s top competitors in business software,
announced a round of job cuts in October this year.