Marc Benioff mocks AI “SaaSpocalypse” fears in leather jacket
On Wednesday, Salesforce announced fourth-quarter financial results that showcased significant revenue growth and a strategic push to counter investor anxiety regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on traditional software models. The company reported quarterly revenue of $10.7 billion, representing a 13% increase compared to the same period last year. For the complete fiscal year, Salesforce posted revenue of $41.5 billion, a 10% year-over-year rise.
These figures were bolstered by the integration of Informatica, a data management company acquired for $8 billion in May. The company also reported a net income of $7.46 billion for the period. Management provided an optimistic outlook for the current fiscal year, forecasting revenue between $45.8 billion and $46.2 billion, which would constitute a growth rate of 10% to 11%. Additionally, Salesforce highlighted its remaining performance obligation, a metric indicating future revenue under contract, which stands at over $72 billion.
Despite these strong financial results, Salesforce and other SaaS providers face mounting pressure from investors concerned that the rise of AI agents could render the per-employee-seat subscription model obsolete. Market participants have colloquially termed this phenomenon the “SaaSpocalypse.” CEO Marc Benioff directly addressed this sentiment multiple times during the earnings call, framing the current environment as a cyclical challenge rather than an existential threat.
“You’ve heard about the SaaSpocalypse? And it isn’t our first. We’ve had a few of them,” Benioff stated. He further argued that the integration of agents enhances the utility of existing software platforms, suggesting that legacy systems would not be easily displaced. “If there is a SaaSpocalypse, it may be eaten by the Sasquatch because there are a lot of companies using a lot of SaaS because it just got better with agents,” he added.
To bolster shareholder confidence, the company announced specific financial actions designed to return capital to investors and signal balance sheet strength. Salesforce increased its quarterly cash dividend by nearly 6% to $0.44 per share. Furthermore, the board of directors authorized a new share repurchase program valued at $50 billion. Buyback programs are typically viewed favorably by markets as they reduce the total number of shares outstanding, which can increase earnings per share and support the stock price. These measures indicate a focus on capital allocation alongside product innovation as the company navigates a competitive market landscape.
The structure of the earnings call itself was modified to serve as a hybrid of a traditional financial update and a product showcase. Rather than strictly adhering to a numerical review, Benioff conducted on-camera interviews with executives from three major customers. Participants included the CEO of SharkNinja, a home appliance manufacturer; the CEO of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts; and the CEO of SaaStr, a prominent software industry conference and media outlet. Each executive expressed satisfaction with Salesforce’s AI agent capabilities, providing third-party validation for the company’s product roadmap. This format shifted the focus from purely financial metrics to real-world application and customer testimonials.
Salesforce also introduced a new measurement standard intended to better quantify the value generated by its AI offerings. The company unveiled the metric “agentic work units” (AWU) to track successful task completion by AI agents. This approach contrasts with the industry standard of counting tokens, which represents the volume of data processed by AI models.
Salesforce reported processing 19 trillion tokens in the previous quarter, a figure that, while large, does not necessarily correlate with business value. Patrick Stokes, Salesforce’s president and chief marketing officer, explained the distinction on the call, noting, “You can ask it a question and it can write you a poem, but that’s not really all that valuable in the enterprise world.” AWU is designed to track verifiable actions, such as writing to a database record, thereby providing a clearer picture of agent productivity.
Underpinning these announcements was a distinct architectural vision intended to challenge the dominance of foundational AI model providers like OpenAI. Salesforce presented a hierarchy where SaaS platforms occupy the top layer of the technology stack, utilizing AI models as commoditized engines at the bottom. This perspective directly counters the vision outlined by OpenAI regarding its “Frontier” agent platform, which positions OpenAI at the top and relegates SaaS providers to the role of backend data repositories. By asserting the primacy of the application layer, Salesforce is positioning itself as the indispensable interface for enterprise AI operations.
In a visual nod to the current AI industry landscape, Marc Benioff wore a black leather jacket during the earnings presentation. This attire mirrored the signature style of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, whose company has become the dominant supplier of hardware powering the AI boom. The choice of clothing appeared to be a deliberate signal that Salesforce intends to remain a central player in the evolving AI ecosystem, adopting the aesthetics of the sector’s current market leaders while asserting a distinct strategic direction.