More than 1,000 employees are reportedly being laid off from Salesforce, while at the same time, the CMS star is hiring upwards of 2,000 AI salespeople to drive its artificial intelligence portfolio.
Salesforce is reportedly laying off over 1,000 employees, or roughly 1.5 percent of its global workforce, as the customer management software (CMS) provider turns its hiring strategy towards AI salespeople.
The $38 billion CMS superstar is making the cuts, according to a report by Bloomberg, with Salesforce’s global headcount at around 72,680 employees as of February 2024.
Approximately 51 percent of Salesforce employees at located in the U.S. while 49 percent are located internationally.
Last month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said Salesforce would not be hiring any more software engineers in 2025 due to significant productivity gains from AI.
[Related: Salesforce CEO Benioff Calls Microsoft Copilot ‘Repackaged ChatGPT’]
Details on the specific Salesforce divisions being cut are unknown at this time. Displaced workers will have the opportunity to apply for other internal positions, Bloomberg said.
The layoff news came as Benioff said his company is currently hiring upwards of 2,000 salespeople to help boost AI customer adoption and sales.
“We’re adding another couple of thousand salespeople to help sell these [AI] products,” Marc Benioff said in December. “We already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions that we’ve opened up. It’s amazing.”
Salesforce did not respond to comment on the layoffs by press time.
Salesforce CEO: Agentforce Is The ‘Next Evolution Of Salesforce’
The San Franciso-based company recently embarked on a hiring spree for 2,000 salespeople focused on the company’s new AI agent products.
Salesforce’s new Agentforce AI offering, which can manage customer support and sales development autonomously, is a key hiring area.
“This is really a moment where productivity is no longer tied to workforce growth,” Benioff said in late 2024. “This is intelligent technology that can be scaled without limits. And Agentforce represents this next evolution of Salesforce.”
Agentforce became generally available in October and has already delivered 200 deals, Benioff said.
Use cases for Agentforce include solving customer issues autonomously, processing qualifying leads, closing deals, as well as creating and improving marketing campaigns.
The second generation of Agentforce is expected to be launched later this month.
Salesforce Layoff History Since 2023
In 2023, Salesforce laid off approximately 8,000 employees or about 10 percent of its global workforce at the time.
However, the company quickly hired about 3,300 new employees later in 2023, including some employees who were let go earlier in the year.
In January 2024, Salesforce laid off around 700 employees, followed by at least another 300 in July.
Salesforce is set to report its quarterly financial earnings on Feb. 26.
