Salesforce employees brace for a fresh round of layoffs under new management

Employees of American cloud-based software company Salesforce are likely to face a fresh round of layoffs under the new management.

“The management has set up new sales targets which some might label unachievable, as is being reported. Many think these are indirect measures of downsizing the workforce,” an employee said.

It is worth noting that the top management of the company was shuffled earlier this month. Bret Taylor, the Vice Chair and CEO, announced that he is stepping down from his position and Marc Benioff, a co-founder of the company, will be the new Chair and CEO of the software company.

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Taylor said in a statement, “After a lot of reflection, I've decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots.”

The change in management at Salesforce is not being received well by the markets. Baird, an investment bank and financial services company, downgraded the software company from ‘OUTPERFORM’ to ‘NEUTRAL’ last week. This resulted in the shares of the company tumbling 0.5 per cent in the trading session.

Analysts at Baird noted that one of the main reasons for this downgrade is the departures at the top level.

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“The increase in executive turnover (i.e., Bret Taylor, Stewart Butterfield, other Slack executives, Gavin Patterson) in the aggregate is a surprise and could portend execution risk,” analysts noted in their report.

The company has been going through a rough patch financially. The stock was trading at $265.76 last year on December 13 and has crashed 49.91 per cent since then. The scrip closed at $133.11 in the previous trading session.

Salesforce had conducted a downsizing round in November. Protocol reported that 2,500 employees were laid off but the company claimed that “less than a thousand employees have been let go.”

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Business Today has reached out to Salesforce for a comment on the recent developments. The copy will be updated with the company’s statement.