• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
FinanceSalesforce

Does Salesforce Need A Hedge Fund Activist to Shake Up the Stock?

By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 15, 2017, 5:16 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Salesforce may be ripe for a shakeup.

The maker of business software just received some new investors, including three activist hedge funds. Corvex Management, a hedge fund founded by Carl Icahn’s former right hand Keith Meister; Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners; and newer activist fund Sachem Head all bought Salesforce stock at the end of 2016, according to disclosures filed Tuesday.

The hedge funds’ stakes are small compared to typical activist positions, adding up to about 1.3% of Salesforce (CRM) shares combined. The total stake is worth $716 million. Jana Partners, for example, bought nearly 5% of Time Inc. (TIME) (the parent company of Fortune) last year, and has reportedly put pressure on the publishing company to restructure or sell.

It’s unclear whether the activist investors plan to push for major changes at Salesforce, though a few hedge funds have successfully won concessions from their target companies even while owning relatively few shares. Salesforce stock rose more than 1% Wednesday following the disclosures.

While Salesforce has long enjoyed the status of a Wall Street darling—its founder, billionaire Marc Benioff, remains its CEO—its shareholders have reason to be impatient. Although Salesforce has managed to grow sales at a brisk clip of roughly 25% annually, the last time it reported a yearly profit was 2011. The company also rattled investors late last summer when it forecasted lower-than-expected earnings amid signs of a business slowdown.

And last year wasn’t a good one for Salesforce in the market. Its shares dropped almost 13%, far worse than the performance of the S&P 500, which was up nearly 10%, as well as its peers. Shares of Oracle (ORCL), for example, gained more than 5%, while Microsoft (MSFT), another rival in the cloud software business, rose 12% for the year.

Still, Salesforce has bounced back significantly in 2017 so far, up 19% this year alone, and it’s possible that the hedge funds will take their profits and leave without changing a thing at the company. That’s what Corvex did with Hain Celestial (HAIN), whose stock price rose 11% during the final quarter of 2016. The hedge fund sold out of it by the end of the year after first buying the stock just the quarter before.

The same is true of Jana’s Rosenstein and Twitter (TWTR). Rosenstein had raised hopes that he would do something to turn around the social media platform after he revealed a stake in the company last fall, sending Twitter stock up 2%. But the activist has already cashed out of the social media company, according to the new filings.

Meanwhile Sachem Head, started by a protege of Pershing Square activist hedge fund manger Bill Ackman, is just wrapping up a winning campaign at Autodesk (ADSK), currently the firm’s top holding with nearly 6% of the tech company’s shares. Accumulating a position anywhere near that big at Salesforce would be much more expensive. A 5% stake in the company would currently cost more than $2 billion. But if the hedge funds were to combine forces in pursuit of the same goals, an activist campaign isn’t out of the question.

About the Author
By Jen Wieczner
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Best private student loans for medical school
Personal Financestudent loans and debt
Best private student loans for medical school
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
4 hours ago
Michael Burry just shorted Caterpillar’s 172% AI rally. One analyst says his bet won’t even matter
Investingstock prices
Michael Burry just shorted Caterpillar’s 172% AI rally. One analyst says his bet won’t even matter
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 2, 2026
5 hours ago
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
EconomyDebt
AI’s $2.2 trillion deficit fix is already half fake, economists say
By Tristan BoveJuly 2, 2026
6 hours ago
s
Personal FinanceSports
The sports economy is unaffordable at the bar, let alone the stadium
By Catherina GioinoJuly 2, 2026
6 hours ago
sb
North AmericaU.S. Department of the Treasury
Scott Bessent goes after the top Mexican cartel’s new billion-dollar business: gas stations
By Fatima Hussein and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
6 hours ago
eggs
LawAntitrust
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
8 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
Success
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
18 hours ago
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
Politics
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
6 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.