Marc Benioff getting his mojo back as Salesforce lifts AI growth view
Salesforce shares surged following a strong earnings report and a new partnership with Anthropic, signaling investor confidence in the company's AI strategy. CEO Marc Benioff is also successfully recruiting 'boomerang' talent back from OpenAI, countering concerns about the company's relevance in the AI era.
Why it matters
The recovery of Salesforce stock reflects broader market sentiment regarding the ability of legacy software companies to integrate and compete with generative AI startups.
For the better part of a year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been hearing that his company could get wiped out by AI. He's scoffed anytime someone has asked him about it.
"This is not our first SaaSpocalypse ," Benioff said on an earnings call in February. "We have been through many SaaSpocalypses."
Those comments followed a 21% slump in the company's stock price last year, a trend that continued for most of 2026, as Salesforce and the rest of the software sector underperformed the broader market. With Anthropic and OpenAI rolling out a dizzying number of artificial intelligence models and services for businesses, concerns grew about the sustainability of traditional software.
But if this week is any indication, Wall Street may finally be coming back around to Benioff's side.
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