By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
(Reuters) – Activist investor Elliott Management Corp has nominated a slate of directors to the board of Salesforce Inc, according to a source familiar with the matter.
There was no information on how many director candidates Elliott nominated or who they are.
Salesforce reports earnings later on Wednesday.
Elliott, which unveiled its stake in January, has been holding constructive and intense discussions with the company, sources said.
Elliott declined comment. Salesforce could not be immediately reached for comment.
Salesforce earlier this year added three new directors to its board: investment firm ValueAct Capital’s head Mason Morfit, Mastercard finance chief Sachin Mehra, and former chief executive of Carnival Corp Arnold Donald.
The company has a number of activist investors in its stock apart from Elliott. They include Jeff Ubben’s Inclusive Capital Partners and Jeff Smith’s Starboard Value, who have been pushing for Salesforce to increase growth and margins, buy back more shares, and raised concerns about recent acquisitions.
Shares of Salesforce were up 1.1% in morning trading. The company is expected to report a 9% increase in revenue to $7.99 billion for the fourth quarter, according to Refinitiv data.
Salesforce, which is valued at $163 billion, said in January that it planned to cut a tenth of its jobs and close some offices after rapid pandemic hiring left it with a bloated workforce.
The company, along with other technology giants like Meta Platforms, Google parent Alphabet, and Microsoft, have all announced job cuts in recent months. Tech companies shed more than 150,000 workers in 2022.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
