From setting out company ambitions to multibillion-dollar investments, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
New Multibillion-Dollar Investment May Spark Change at Salesforce
Elliott Management Corp. has invested billions of dollars into Salesforce.
After a slew of bad news at the back end of 2022, the move shows that investors still see a significant opportunity for continued growth.
The markets reacted well to the announcement, despite releasing few additional details regarding the move, with Salesforce stock up 5.71 percent.
Yet, some worry that the investment will limit the autonomy of those at the top of the business.
Indeed, Elliott Management has earned a reputation for demanding change and calling out major businesses for various perceived shortfalls.
SSE can perhaps attest to this, with Elliott Management publicly attacking the business – which it has a significant stake in – over its green energy plans.
A statement from Jesse Cohn, Managing Partner at Elliott Management, suggested that the investor may also shake up the status quo at Salesforce – all be it “constructively”. He said:
We look forward to working constructively with Salesforce to realize the value befitting a company of its stature.
Some interpret this as increasing profit margins by cost-cutting, expecting Elliot Management to turn up the heat on the board.
SAP Wants to Sell Its Stake In Qualtrics
SAP is exploring the opportunity to sell its 71 percent stake in Qualtrics.
After initially acquiring Qualtrics for $8BN in 2018, SAP spun the software provider off into an IPO little more than two years later.
While Qualtrics performed well at that time, as a separate solution, the combined SAP-Qualtrics offering seemingly failed to resonate with most customers.
The initial idea was to take Qualtrics’ experience data (X data) and combine it with SAP’s operational data (O data) to give businesses a holistic view of how customers and employees feel about them.
In 2018, former SAP CEO Bill McDermott shared this idea with CNBC: “We – fundamentally – wanted a transformational deal, one that would reshape the entire industry. And here we are.”
Yet, this vision never quite came to be. And, when Christian Klein took the CEO hot seat in April 2020, his reported mission was to refocus SAP back to its core business.
Years later, this mission has not changed – as the sale of SAP Litmos in August also suggests.
Now, it seems SAP is doubling down on its mission, lessening the focus on its “side projects” and bidding a fond farewell to Qualtrics once and for all.
“This potential transaction could unlock significant value for both companies and their shareholders,” noted SAP in its quarterly statement.
For SAP, these benefits include an increased focus on its “core cloud growth and profitability.” Meanwhile, Qualtrics will aim to “extend its leadership in the XM category that it pioneered.”
The Latest On the Layoffs at Microsoft, Google, and Amazon
Microsoft joined its CX rivals Google and Amazon in laying off thousands of employees.
