Salesforce cuts 300 jobs to streamline operations

Salesforce Inc. has cut around 300 roles to streamline operations, emphasizing the tech industry’s ongoing focus on cost control, reports BNN Bloomberg.  

These job cuts occurred this month, confirmed by a source who wished to remain anonymous. Salesforce acknowledged the layoffs but did not provide specifics.   

“Like any healthy business, we continuously assess whether we have the right structure in place to best serve our customers and fuel growth areas,” a spokesperson said. “In some cases, that leads to roles being eliminated.”   

Although these cuts represent a small fraction of Salesforce’s workforce, they reflect a broader industry trend of reducing costs after a period of rapid hiring. Earlier this year, Salesforce eliminated about 700 positions and reduced roughly 10 percent of its total workforce at the start of 2023.   

The news of the latest cuts briefly affected investor confidence, causing Salesforce shares to drop to a session low after Bloomberg’s report. The shares decreased by as much as 0.5 percent to $252.64 in New York on Monday, with a year-to-date decline of 3.5 percent through the end of last week.   

Other major tech companies have also announced significant layoffs this month. Intuit Inc. plans to cut 1,800 jobs, attributing the reductions to underperformance and indicating plans to rehire a similar number of people.  

Additionally, software companies UiPath Inc. and Open Text Corp. reported layoffs, and Business Insider revealed that Microsoft Corp. cut hundreds of jobs in its Azure cloud division last month.   

Salesforce has indicated that it will continue to hire in key areas to drive revenue growth, such as its Data Cloud product, while closely monitoring expenses.  

Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham noted during a June investor conference, “Are we getting the most from everybody in the business — if we’re not, we’re going to have to make reshaping decisions.”   

As of January, Salesforce employed 72,682 people.