Salesforce latest to join tech layoff wave, to sack 700 across company

Salesforce is laying off about 700 employees across the company in the latest round of sackings to hit the tech industry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The layoffs represent about 1 per cent of Salesforce's workforce, which currently stands at around 70,000 employees.

This move follows a similar decision made a year ago when the company reduced its staff by 10 per cent, letting go of around 8,000 employees. At that time, the decision was prompted by investor pressure to trim expenses.

Salesforce, known for its cloud-based customer relationship management software, is adjusting its workforce in response to the dynamic nature of the tech landscape. The downsizing comes at a time when various tech companies are facing similar challenges, and the industry is witnessing a series of layoffs.

It also comes a day after Microsoft's move to let go of 1,900 employees within its video-game divisions, a move that includes Activision Blizzard. Microsoft had only recently acquired Activision for $69 billion in a deal that concluded late last year.

At the WEF, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the tech industry is setting down safety protocols and establishing trust principles in relation to the developing AI software that has taken the world by storm to avoid a “Hiroshima moment.” 

“We don’t want something to go really wrong. That’s why we’re going to, like, that safety summit. That’s why we’re talking about trust,” Benioff said, referencing a U.K. event last year.

“We don’t want to have a Hiroshima moment. We’ve seen technology go really wrong, and we saw a Hiroshima. We don’t want to see an AI Hiroshima. We want to make sure that we’ve got our head around this now.”