Salesforce facing rare 5 activist investors after stock lost 48% in 2022

Salesforce and its co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff are facing pressure from five activist investors. The latest activist investor, Third Point’s Dan Loeb, recently called off his proxy fight with Disney.

Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, Inclusive Capital and Elliott Management round out the five. Elliott Management is believed to be the most active, with a multi-billion dollar investment.

The outside challenges come at a tumultuous time for the company worth $170 billion. Last month, Salesforce announced layoffs for 10% of its workers, saying it hired too many during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both co-CEO Bret Taylor and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield left the company in January. It is the second time in less than three years Benioff has lost a co-CEO, leaving him alone at the helm. And the stock plunged 48% in 2022.

The share price has rebounded some in 2023, up 25% as of Monday, rising on activist news and the overall boost to tech stocks. But five activist investors can be a complicated recipe if they’re each looking at different ways to shake up the company.

Board seats are always a big ploy. Sunday marked the start of the month-long nominating window for investors to put forward their preferred names. Salesforce has already placated one of the activist investors, ValueAct, by appointing its CEO and Chief Investment Officer Mason Morfit to the board. He is one of three new directors that was announced at the end of January at the same time the company revealed two existing members were retiring. Morfit, along with Mastercard Chief Financial Officer Sachin Mehra and former Carnival CEO Arnold Donald, will be active March 1.

But Elliott Management is also expected to nominate multiple people to replace other longtime board members who work closely with Benioff. Elliott Management and other investors have so far kept their demands out of the public, working behind the scenes with Benioff to negotiate changes to maximize Salesforce’s value.