Salesforce is toast because custom Claude apps can now replace software products, the way a custom Claude app replaced a spin-the-wheel tool for picking family movies. x.comÂ
Travis Hoium
Motley Fool Analyst, Author of Asymmetric Investing
Salesforce is exposed to AI-native rivals aiming to own the sale itself rather than build a better CRM. Upstarts such as Attio, Monaco and Rox can capture the decision traces behind closed deals, a learning loop Claude cannot rebuild from Salesforce's fields. Its schema is more tax than foundation: relationship-driven work like recruiting and VC does not fit it, and young startups cannot be served profitably. Its 150k customers won't churn soon, but new AI-native firms may never install it. … Show more
Software stocks probably have a floor as results challenge fears that AI agents will displace them. Since the June 22 momentum unwind, IGV is up 25% and the SOX index down 22%. Atlassian and Salesforce jumped on solid results, plus an Anthropic deal for Salesforce, and possible Silver Lake interest lifted Workday. A new bullish twist says agents will use software tools 10-100x more than humans. Whether fundamentals back the rally is still open; a likely Fed hike and weak September are risks. … Show more
Salesforce is set to make a lot of money from AI as the market realizes it may be an AI winner, not a victim. Agentforce ARR reached $1.5 billion, up 240% year over year, and Claude will become Agentforce's default model through an Anthropic partnership, with secure CRM data access and 37 prebuilt sales skills. Contracted revenue expected over the next 12 months reached $33.5 billion, up 14%, its fastest bookings growth in four years. x.comÂ
Salesforce looks reduced to a backend provider for Claude's Slack bot, undercutting claims that it is an obvious AI winner and undervalued in a SaaS recovery, a risk flagged as early as January. x.comÂ
FactSet risks having its app usage automated from outside and becoming unmonetizable as AI agents operate it directly. Its MCP integration was a huge advance and a growth driver, worth perhaps a 20% subscription uplift, but OpenAI's computer use worked well on a regular desktop session, if much slower, and simply noted the FactSet subscription to use when needed. SaaS bear points from earlier this year are materializing quickly. x.com x.comÂ
Salesforce's poor M&A is literally half the reason its multiple stays low. Slack and Informatica are cited as examples, with Braze raised as a question; AI making Tableau obsolete in a few years would be a separate risk, not itself poor M&A. x.comÂ
Salesforce might be dead as intelligence becomes an abundant commodity, though it can argue it has distribution. Claude, OpenAI and open-weight models such as Kimi, Qwen and DeepSeek are in a price fight to zero, so years of developer work no longer form a moat. The new moats are trust, distribution and data, especially data behind corporate firewalls, in hospitals or otherwise hard to get. x.comÂ
AI is going to kill Salesforce, Adobe and Netflix, whether the AI is American or not. Beyond the narrative, the question is their underlying growth prospects, and one firsthand workplace already uses only homegrown AI tools and essentially no SaaS products. x.com x.comÂ
Salesforce owns the customer data AI needs to be valuable, so the death-of-software trade is aging badly. Hardware and software climb together, and this quarter showed the AI benefit cannot be captured on the chip side alone. Per @qualtrim, Salesforce now earns $10.96 a share at 18x earnings, versus $5.56 at 39x two years ago. x.comÂ
Salesforce is a company that cannot win on talent or product, making it one to avoid, though this view has been wrong before. x.comÂ