Salesforce is having its worst year in large-cap tech with shares down 25%, making it the second-worst performer in the Dow behind only UnitedHealth. As the company prepares to report quarterly results Wednesday, investors are zeroing in on CEO Marc Benioff's AI strategy, particularly whether the $100 million Agentforce platform can reignite growth after four straight quarters of single-digit revenue increases.
Salesforce finds itself in an unfamiliar position as tech's biggest disappointment of 2025. The CRM giant that once toppled Oracle in market cap during the pandemic boom now trails its former rival by a staggering $400 billion. Wednesday's earnings report will test whether CEO Marc Benioff can convince Wall Street that his AI bet is worth the wait.
The numbers tell a brutal story of momentum lost. Salesforce shares have crashed 25% this year while Oracle has soared 34%, creating one of tech's most dramatic reversals. The company that Benioff built to challenge Larry Ellison's database empire is now worth $239 billion compared to Oracle's $630 billion valuation. On the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ellison sits at number two with $278 billion while Benioff has dropped to 318th place at $10.4 billion.
Investors are growing impatient with four consecutive quarters of single-digit revenue growth. Analysts expect the streak to continue with revenue growth of just 8.7% to $10.1 billion for the latest quarter, according to LSEG data. The challenge runs deeper than cyclical softness - Salesforce is grappling with saturation in its core customer relationship management market just as AI threatens to automate away some of its business model.
Benioff acknowledged the disruption in June, telling investors that AI already handles 30% to 50% of the company's work. The admission helped explain why Salesforce reportedly cut 1,000 jobs earlier this year, even as it scrambled to position itself for the AI transition.
Enter Agentforce, Salesforce's answer to the AI challenge and potentially its salvation. The platform, which automates customer support requests, launched in October and quickly scaled to $100 million in annualized revenue by May. "It's not significant enough to move the needle on this business, given the scale," Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin told CNBC, capturing the market's skepticism.
The irony isn't lost on industry observers. While struggles to monetize AI, has become an unexpected beneficiary of the boom. The database company that seemed destined for legacy status has landed major cloud infrastructure deals with and Elon Musk's xAI, transforming its growth trajectory.
