Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff predicts 'a lot of dead unicorns' and cheap startups to buy
During an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, Bloomberg asked Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, point blank, if he's got any plans to step up his acquisitions.
Short answer: probably not.
Benioff said that big acquisitions haven't really been part of Salesforce strategy for a while. The last big one it did was ExactTarget for $2.5 billion back in 2013. He didn't plan to shift gears, but he's keeping his eyes open.
"When you have deflating asset values, and you're the CEO of a company, you're going to look at public companies, you're going to look at private companies, and you're always going to say 'Are there other organizations who are going to come in' [to buy the target company]?" he said.
However, Salesforce will continue to buy smaller startups, and Benioff thinks such companies "might be a little cheaper because capital will be more constrained," he said.
In the meantime, Benioff is one of many people predicting a bloodbath among the highest valued startups, the so called unicorns that are said to be worth over $1 billion.
He said if such highly valued startups didn't choose to go public when the economy was hot, they will be in a "very difficult position" when their "lofty valuations" decline. "Those startups will have to raise money at the new reality," adding, "there's going to be a lot of dead unicorns."
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- BSE shares tank nearly 19% after Sebi directive on regulatory fee
- Nainital bucket list: 9 experiences you can't miss in 2024
- Sanju Samson likely to be India's first-choice wicketkeeper for T20 World Cup
- India Inc marks slowest quarterly revenue growth in January-March 2024: Crisil
- Nothing Phone (2a) India-exclusive Blue Edition launched starting at ₹19,999
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market