Salesforce CEO Uses Record Quarter to Kill ‘AI Will Replace SaaS' Narrative

Salesforce beat second-quarter revenue and profit estimates on August 26. It then used the results to challenge fears that AI would gut demand for enterprise software.

Chief Executive Marc Benioff pointed to the company’s expanded partnership with Anthropic, the AI lab behind Claude. He called it the clearest evidence for that argument.

Anthropic Deal Becomes the Counter-Example

Salesforce and Anthropic unveiled Claudeforce, letting salespeople pull Salesforce data inside Claude to draft emails and update records. It marks the first time Salesforce attached its “force” branding to another company’s product.

Investors had worried AI chatbots would let companies skip licensed software, feeding a SaaSpocalypse debate across tech markets this year. Benioff argued the opposite is happening.

“This SaaSpocalypse narrative has been such nonsense.”

Marc Benioff, CNBC

He framed Salesforce’s stored customer data as the foundation AI models need to function inside a business. It is not a layer they can bypass, he argued.

“These AI models need this level of intelligence, security and controls for users.”

Marc Benioff, CNBC

Growth Numbers Back the Argument

The quarter gave Benioff hard numbers to point to. Agentforce annual recurring revenue topped $1.5 billion, up more than 240% year over year.

Combined Agentforce and Data 360 revenue reached near $3.9 billion, up over 210%. Revenue of $11.35 billion beat estimates, and shares jumped 14% in extended trading.

Net income also got an unusual boost. Salesforce booked a $2.6 billion gain tied to its own equity stake in Anthropic.

The AI lab was valued near $965 billion after its last funding round, linking the two companies’ fortunes beyond the product deal alone.

Bookings from Salesforce’s premium AI bundles more than doubled quarter over quarter, the company confirmed in its filing.

Benioff separately told Cramer that net new deal growth was the strongest in four years. He also said customer attrition sat near record lows. Both claims frame AI as unable to erode Salesforce’s pricing power.

Whether that argument holds may shape how investors treat this year’s best AI stocks heading into earnings season. Software sellers, not just chipmakers, now face that test.