Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, and Elliott Investment Management L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Elliott”) today issued a joint statement regarding the Company’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and related director elections. In light of the Company’s previously announced “New Day” multi-year profitable growth framework, strong fiscal year 2023 results, fiscal year 2024 transformation initiatives, Board and management actions and clear focus on value creation, Elliott decided not to proceed with director nominations, and Salesforce and Elliott have committed to continue the productive working relationship they have developed together.
Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce, said, “I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Jesse and the Elliott team over the last few months, and I am grateful for Jesse’s mindful and constructive ideas. I look forward to continuing my relationship with Jesse and the Elliott team.”
Jesse Cohn, Managing Partner of Elliott, said, “I have great respect for Marc and his team, and I have become deeply impressed by their strong ongoing commitment to profitable growth, responsible capital return and an ambitious shareholder value creation plan. We look forward to continuing our productive relationship with Marc and the Salesforce team as they accelerate the Company’s transformation.”
Salesforce’s upcoming annual meeting will proceed in the ordinary course. Salesforce stockholders are not required to take any action at this time. Salesforce appreciates the collaborative input received from its investors and many other stakeholders.
About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.
"Safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the Company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements it makes.
The risks and uncertainties referred to above include -- but are not limited to -- risks associated with the impact of, and actions we may take in response to, the COVID-19 pandemic, related public health measures and resulting economic downturn and market volatility; our ability to maintain security levels and service performance meeting the expectations of our customers, and the resources and costs required to avoid unanticipated downtime and prevent, detect and remediate performance degradation and security breaches; the expenses associated with our data centers and third-party infrastructure providers; our ability to secure additional data center capacity; our reliance on third-party hardware, software and platform providers; the effect of evolving domestic and foreign government regulations, including those related to the provision of services on the Internet, those related to accessing the Internet, and those addressing data privacy, cross-border data transfers and import and export controls; current and potential litigation involving us or our industry, including litigation involving acquired entities such as Slack Technologies, Inc., and the resolution or settlement thereof; regulatory developments and regulatory investigations involving us or affecting our industry; our ability to successfully introduce new services and product features, including any efforts to expand our services; the success of our strategy of acquiring or making investments in complementary businesses, joint ventures, services, technologies and intellectual property rights; our ability to complete, on a timely basis or at all, announced transactions; our ability to realize the benefits from acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures and investments, and successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies; our ability to compete in the markets in which we participate; the success of our business strategy and our plan to build our business, including our strategy to be a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing applications and platforms; our ability to execute our business plans; our ability to continue to grow unearned revenue and remaining performance obligation; the pace of change and innovation in enterprise cloud computing services; the seasonal nature of our sales cycles; our ability to limit customer attrition and costs related to those efforts; the success of our international expansion strategy; the demands on our personnel and infrastructure resulting from significant growth in our customer base and operations, including as a result of acquisitions; our ability to preserve our workplace culture, including as a result of our decisions regarding our current and future office environments or work-from-home policies; our dependency on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet; our real estate and office facilities strategy and related costs and uncertainties; fluctuations in, and our ability to predict, our operating results and cash flows; the variability in our results arising from the accounting for term license revenue products; the performance and fair value of our investments in complementary businesses through our strategic investment portfolio; the impact of future gains or losses from our strategic investment portfolio, including gains or losses from overall market conditions that may affect the publicly traded companies within our strategic investment portfolio; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; our ability to maintain and enhance our brands; the impact of foreign currency exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations on our results; the valuation of our deferred tax assets and the release of related valuation allowances; the potential availability of additional tax assets in the future; the impact of new accounting pronouncements and tax laws; uncertainties affecting our ability to estimate our tax rate; uncertainties regarding our tax obligations in connection with potential jurisdictional transfers of intellectual property, including the tax rate, the timing of the transfer and the value of such transferred intellectual property; uncertainties regarding the effect of general economic, business and market conditions, including inflationary pressures, general economic downturn or recession, market volatility, increasing interest rates and changes in monetary policy; the impact of geopolitical events, including the recent conflict in Europe; uncertainties regarding the impact of expensing stock options and other equity awards; the sufficiency of our capital resources; our ability to execute our Share Repurchase Program; our ability to comply with our debt covenants and lease obligations; the impact of climate change, natural disasters and actual or threatened public health emergencies the expected benefits of and timing of completion of the restructuring plan and the expected costs and charges of the restructuring plan, including, among other things, the risk that the restructuring costs and charges may be greater than we anticipate, the risk that our restructuring efforts may adversely affect our internal programs and our ability to recruit and retain skilled and motivated personnel, and may be distracting to employees and management, the risk that our restructuring efforts may negatively impact our business operations and reputation with or ability to serve customers, and the risk that our restructuring efforts may not generate their intended benefits to the extent or as quickly as anticipated; and our ability to achieve our aspirations, goals and projections related to our environmental, social and governance initiatives.
Further information on these and other factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included in the reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and in other filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Financials section of the Company’s website at http://investor.salesforce.com/financials/.
Salesforce, Inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
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Contacts
Mike Spencer
Salesforce
Investor Relations
415-536-6250
investor@salesforce.com
Carolyn Guss
Salesforce
Public Relations
415-536-4966
pr@salesforce.com