Salesforce Cuts Over 1,000 Jobs While Ramping Up AI Hiring

Salesforce To Lay Off Over 1,000 Employees Amid AI Hiring Spree

More than 1,000 employees are reportedly being laid off from Salesforce, while at the same time, the CMS star is hiring upwards of 2,000 AI salespeople to drive its artificial intelligence portfolio. Salesforce is reportedly laying off over 1,000 employees, or roughly 1.5 percent of its global workforce, as the customer management software (CMS) provider turns its hiring strategy towards AI salespeople. The $38 billion CMS superstar is making the cuts, according to a report by Bloomberg, with Salesforce's global headcount at around 72,680 employees as of February 2024. Approximately 51 percent of Salesforce employees at located in the U.S. while 49 percent are located internationally. Last month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said Salesforce would not be hiring any more software engineers in 2025 due to significant productivity gains from AI. [Related: Salesforce CEO Benioff Calls Microsoft Copilot 'Repackaged ChatGPT'] Details on the specific Salesforce divisions being cut are unknown at this time. Displaced workers will have the opportunity to apply for other internal positions, Bloomberg said. The layoff news came as Benioff said his company is currently hiring upwards of 2,000 salespeople to help boost AI customer adoption and sales. "We're adding another couple of thousand salespeople to help sell these [AI] products," Marc Benioff said in December. "We already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions that we've opened up. It's amazing." Salesforce did not respond to comment on the layoffs by press time. The San Franciso-based company recently embarked on a hiring spree for 2,000 salespeople focused on the company's new AI agent products. Salesforce's new Agentforce AI offering, which can manage customer support and sales development autonomously, is a key hiring area. "This is really a moment where productivity is no longer tied to workforce growth," Benioff said in late 2024. "This is intelligent technology that can be scaled without limits. And Agentforce represents this next evolution of Salesforce." Agentforce became generally available in October and has already delivered 200 deals, Benioff said. Use cases for Agentforce include solving customer issues autonomously, processing qualifying leads, closing deals, as well as creating and improving marketing campaigns. The second generation of Agentforce is expected to be launched later this month. In 2023, Salesforce laid off approximately 8,000 employees or about 10 percent of its global workforce at the time. However, the company quickly hired about 3,300 new employees later in 2023, including some employees who were let go earlier in the year. In January 2024, Salesforce laid off around 700 employees, followed by at least another 300 in July. Salesforce is set to report its quarterly financial earnings on Feb. 26.

Salesforce Is Laying Off Over 1,000 Employees. Here's What We Know.

A few months after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced plans to hire 2,000 new salespeople to sell Agentforce, its latest AI product, Salesforce is cutting jobs. According to a Bloomberg report, Salesforce is laying off more than 1,000 people in unspecified divisions, though affected employees can apply for other roles in the company. Salesforce's January 31, 2024, annual report said it has 72,682 global employees. The company laid off about 10% of its staff, or 7,000 employees in January 2023, 700 workers in January 2024, and another 300 in July. Despite announcing the new layoffs, Salesforce appears to be hiring for new roles -- or at least on screen. The company's careers site at the time of writing brings us 848 "account executive" keyword-matched roles in locations around the world. Agentforce can complete multi-step tasks like answering customer questions and scheduling meetings without human supervision for $2 an interaction. In an interview with CNBC in December, Benioff said that Salesforce has sold Agentforce to 1,000 paying customers. Disney, Saks, Wiley, and OpenTable are all using the technology. Benioff also said that Salesforce uses Agentforce -- and highlighted its potential to replace human work. The company answers about 36,000 customer questions per week, and 10,000 of those questions are usually answered by humans. The AI allows Salesforce to lower the number of questions humans answer to 5,000. Related: Salesforce CEO Says the Company's New AI Agents Could Replace Human Jobs The combination means that Salesforce can cut human staff in favor of AI. "We can have less human support agents, more digital support agents," Benioff told CNBC. Salesforce will report its next quarterly earnings on February 26.

Salesforce Said to Cut 1,000 Roles While Hiring Salespeople for AI

It has embarked on a hiring spree for salespeople for its AI products Salesforce Inc. is cutting jobs as its latest fiscal year gets underway, according to a person familiar with the matter, even as the company simultaneously hires workers to sell new Artificial Intelligence (AI) products. More than 1,000 roles will be affected, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Displaced workers will be able to apply for other jobs internally, the person added. A representative of San Francisco-based Salesforce declined to comment. It couldn't be determined which divisions the reductions were focused in. Salesforce had nearly 73,000 workers as of January 2024, when that fiscal year ended. Technology companies have grown more accustomed to regular job reductions after a massive wave of layoffs at the start of 2023. So far this year, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. have all moved to trim their corporate workforces. Salesforce, the leading maker of customer management software, has embarked on a hiring spree for salespeople focused on the company's new AI agent products. But it's also been keeping a closer eye on maintaining profit margins after pressure from activist investors in 2023. "Just because we have a hit new product doesn't mean that we ignore the commitments we've made internally and externally as we think about scaling this business," Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham said when asked about the company's profit-focus during an event hosted by Barclays Plc in December. "We're looking across the entire company to say, 'Where can we get more efficiencies? How can we continue to get fuel for the work that we're doing to go invest in scale going forward?" Salesforce is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings around the end of February. © 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Salesforce layoffs: 1,000 jobs affected -- here's who's at risk

Salesforce has announced plans to eliminate more than 1,000 jobs as part of a restructuring effort aimed at reallocating resources toward its growing artificial intelligence initiatives. The decision marks the latest move by the tech giant to streamline operations and adjust its workforce amid a broader industry trend toward automation and cost reduction. According to company statements, the layoffs follow previous reductions that included 700 positions in January 2024 and an additional 300 in July 2024. With a workforce of nearly 73,000 employees as of the end of the January 2024 fiscal year, the current cuts represent a significant shift in the company's operational priorities. CEO Marc Benioff emphasized that the changes are designed to support Salesforce's focus on its new AI products, including the company's flagship offering, AgentForce. The firm is redirecting capital from traditional engineering roles to enhance its AI capabilities, a move that underscores the rising importance of advanced technology in driving business efficiency. Affected employees will be given the opportunity to apply for other roles within Salesforce as part of an internal mobility program. The company stated that these measures are intended to minimize the impact on individual careers while facilitating the transition toward a more AI-driven business model. GrubHub data breach: Here's what hackers got and what you must do now Industry analysts note that Salesforce's decision aligns with similar workforce adjustments at other major technology firms, where automation and AI integration have prompted significant organizational changes. The layoffs reflect a strategic response to evolving market conditions, with companies seeking to reduce operational costs and improve productivity through technology-driven solutions. Salesforce has not provided further details on the specific divisions or roles affected by the cuts. The company confirmed that the restructuring is part of its broader strategy to invest in high-growth areas while maintaining competitiveness in an increasingly automated environment. No additional comments were provided by Salesforce at this time. Further details regarding the implementation timeline and additional support measures for affected employees are expected in upcoming company communications.

Salesforce Reportedly Cuts 1,000 Jobs While Adding AI Salespeople | PYMNTS.com

Salesforce is reportedly eliminating over 1,000 jobs while hiring staff to sell its artificial intelligence products. Workers who are displaced will be able to apply for other roles within the company, Bloomberg reported Monday (Feb. 3), citing unnamed sources. It wasn't clear which divisions were affected by the layoffs, the report said. Salesforce, a provider of customer management software, had nearly 73,000 employees as of January 2024, when its previous fiscal year closed. Salesforce did not respond to PYMNTS' request for comment. Tech companies have gotten used to routine job cuts following a surge of layoffs in early 2023, according to the report. Amazon, Meta and Microsoft have all announced cuts so far this year. Meanwhile, Salesforce has been hiring people for its new AI agent products, while also focusing on shoring up profit margins following pressure from activist investors in 2023, the report said. "Just because we have a hit new product doesn't mean that we ignore the commitments we've made internally and externally as we think about scaling this business," Salesforce Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham said when asked about the company's profit focus in December, per the report. "We're looking across the entire company to say, 'Where can we get more efficiencies? How can we continue to get fuel for the work that we're doing to go invest in scale going forward?'" Last month, Salesforce debuted a point-of-sale (POS) operating system built on generative AI. "We're not here to complement the status quo -- we're here to replace it," Salesforce Senior Vice President and General Manager for Retail Nitin Mangtani told PYMNTS after the launch. "Retailers need technology that doesn't just power transactions but transforms the entire shopping experience from discovery to checkout. That's what this GenAI-powered POS is built to do." Businesses must respect today's fluid consumer journeys, which cover both physical and digital touchpoints, he said. For example, a consumer might happen upon a product while watching a TikTok video, buy it online, and exchange it in-store.

Salesforce reportedly letting go 1,000+ workers in new round of layoffs - SiliconANGLE

Salesforce reportedly letting go 1,000+ workers in new round of layoffs Salesforce Inc. is launching a workforce reduction initiative that will affect more than 1,000 employees, Bloomberg reported today. It's unclear which business units are set to see cuts. A source told Bloomberg that Salesforce will enable affected employees to apply for other positions internally. The company's last major round of layoffs took pace last January, when it let go about 700 employees. Salesforce laid off 10% of its workforce a year earlier. Piper Sandler estimated at the time of the latter restructuring initiative that the cuts could boost Salesforce's operating margin from 21% to 25%. It's possible the job cuts reported by Bloomberg today are part of a new push on the company's part to boost profitability. In December, Salesforce posted mixed third quarter results that topped the consensus revenue estimate but fell short of profitability expectations. The company delivered adjusted earnings of $2.41 per share where analysts were looking for $2.44. Salesforce had earlier faced pressure from activist investors to boost its margins. In 2022, Starboard Value disclosed a Salesforce stake and told fellow shareholders that the cloud giant had a lower operating margin than some industries. Over the next few months, several other activist investors also joined the fray. In response, Salesforce took a series of steps to improve profitability. Most of the activist funds that bought shares before the cost-cutting efforts reportedly exited their stakes by June 2023. Last year, however, Starboard stated that Salesforce still has a "lot more to go" to improve its profitability. The fund argued that the cloud giant should cut its sales, marketing and general administrative costs. It's unclear if the layoffs reported by Bloomberg today affect employees in those three areas. Salesforce ended 2024 with about 73,000 employees. Although the company is reportedly cutting roles, it's also actively hiring in other areas, which means its overall headcount may not decrease significantly as a result of the layoffs. In November, Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff disclosed that the company was recruiting 1,000 salespeople to expand the adoption of its Agentforce artificial intelligence platform. The following month, Benioff detailed that the hiring target has been doubled to 2,000 salespeople. He added that Salesforce has so far inked more than 1,000 Agentforce deals. Introduced last September, Agentforce is an AI platform designed to make knowledge workers more productive. It provides access to AI agents, AI programs that can perform tasks with a high degree of autonomy. Agentforce can automate manual business chores across areas such customer support, sales and marketing. Salesforce introduced an upgraded version of the platform called Agentforce 2.0 in December. The new release can automatically perform tasks in third-party business applications. Additionally, the underlying AI is better at processing complex user prompts that require it to analyze large amounts of data.

Salesforce to Cut 1,000 Jobs Amid AI Expansion: Report

Salesforce AI Research introduced TACO, a family of multimodal large action models, in January 2025. Salesforce is cutting over 1,000 jobs while simultaneously hiring employees to support its new artificial intelligence (AI) product sales. Displaced employees will have the opportunity to apply for internal positions, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a source. Also Read: AMD to Lay Off 4 percent Workforce to Focus on AI Chip Development: Report However, the report added that it remains unclear which divisions are most affected by the layoffs. As of January 31, 2024, the customer relationship management software company reported having 72,682 employees in its annual filing. In December last year, CEO Marc Benioff announced that Salesforce had secured over 1,000 paid deals for "Agentforce," its AI-powered virtual representative platform. Earlier reports indicated that Salesforce had been downsising its workforce. The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2024 that the company laid off approximately 700 employees, while Bloomberg News later reported an additional 300 job cuts in July 2024. Also Read: Salesforce Introduces New Family of Multimodal Action Models Named TACO Earlier in January 2025, Salesforce AI Research introduced TACO, a family of multimodal large action models designed to improve performance on complex, multi-step problems that require multiple reasoning across various data types, such as images, text, and calculations.

Salesforce Cutting 1,000 Roles While Hiring Salespeople for AI

Salesforce Inc. is cutting jobs as its latest fiscal year gets underway, according to a person familiar with the matter, even as the company simultaneously hires workers to sell new artificial intelligence products. More than 1,000 roles will be affected, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Displaced workers will be able to apply for other jobs internally, the person added.

Salesforce Cuts 1000 Jobs But Ramps Up Hiring For AI Sales Roles - Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce Inc. CRM is reportedly slashing 1,000 jobs as its latest fiscal year begins, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing sources. Simultaneously, the company is hiring 2,000 employees for sales roles to promote its artificial intelligence products, according to CEO Marc Benioff's announcement in December. Salesforce did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment. Price Action: Salesforce shares surged 1.02% to $342.70 in after-hours trading on Monday; however, the stock declined 0.72% during the regular session, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Image Via Shutterstock Read Next: Alphabet Q4 Earnings Preview: AI, YouTube, DOJ Case Key Items To Watch CRMSalesforce Inc$344.790.91%Overview Rating:Good62.5%Technicals Analysis1000100Financials Analysis400100WatchlistOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs