Do we like them?

Do we like Salesforce?

Cloud software (CRM, AI agents) for businesses; headquartered in San Francisco, US

Our score: 6 out of 10. A solid business with a strong giving record, but it keeps cutting jobs while promoting AI, and its customers' data thefts are a worry. We'd back it with some caution.

Salesforce is a San Francisco cloud software firm led by co-founder Marc Benioff. It sells customer-management tools to other businesses. It also pioneered the '1-1-1' model, which gives 1% of equity, staff time and product to community causes, according to its own filings.

On pay, its filings say it began an equal pay review in fiscal 2017 and adjusted pay to close gender gaps, with $10.3 million committed since then. It also says it reached net-zero emissions in fiscal 2018. These are the company's own claims, so treat them with some care.

Jobs are a sore spot. In January 2023 it cut about 10% of staff, and Benioff said it had hired too many people during the pandemic. More recently, KRON4 reported layoffs in San Francisco after Benioff said AI let him cut support from 9,000 to about 5,000 people.

Security is the other worry. SecurityWeek and others reported waves of data theft from Salesforce customers by the ShinyHunters group. Reports say attackers abused customers' misconfigured settings rather than a core flaw. Salesforce told customers to lock those settings down. Our verdict is a cautious 6.