Salesforce showed analysts a 'secret' slide with updated revenue projections through 2034

Salesforce

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

• Salesforce shared updated revenue projections with a select group of analysts on Thursday.
• The company aims to have $40 billion in revenues by 2028, and $60 billion in revenues by 2034, according to a slide presented by chief technology officer and co-founder Parker Harris.
• Salesforce asked one analyst to take down a photo of the slide, possibly in violation of SEC fair disclosure regulations.
  
  

Salesforce has a big new financial target that calls for $60 billion by 2034 - but you're not supposed to know about it, unless you're an analyst.

Salesforce told a small group of industry analysts Thursday that it intends to grow its revenues to $40 billion between 2022 and 2028, and up to $60 billion from 2028 to 2034. This is a huge step up from Salesforce's last revenue target, disclosed in November, of $20 billion revenue by 2022. 

The updated figures were shown at the Salesforce Annual Analyst Summit in a presentation by Salesforce chief technology officer and co-founder Parker Harris. The Analyst Summit is an invite-only even where a small group of industry analysts hear from executives about the direction of the company.

Though many attendees posted updates and photos from the event under the hashtag #SalesforceAR, the company asked one analyst to take down a tweet revealing the updated revenue goals. The original tweet was first covered by TechCrunch. 

"There was a bit of confusion about whether the slide was confidential so they asked me to take down the tweet," said Brent Leary, an analyst at the event.  "But after I had taken it down, Salesforce said it was actually OK to post it."

Salesforce would not comment on the new figures or why it initially attempted to prevent the information from being shared publicly, despite disclosing it to analysts.

As a publicly traded company, Salesforce is prohibited from sharing financial guidance with some people but not others. Fair disclosure regulation explicitly prohibits "selective disclosure" of "material nonpublic information to certain individuals or entities." 

It's standard protocol to submit slideshows with revenue projections to the Securities and Exchanges Commission, which publishes them on a public website. 

The SEC declined to comment on whether or not this specific case was a violation. 

Here's a picture of the slide, obtained by Business Insider:

Brent Leary

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