Salesforce has been reportedly paying Matthew McConaughey $10 million a year to act as a 'creative adviser' despite laying off 8,000 employees last month

• Salesforce reportedly struck a deal with the actor Matthew McConaughey, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The company reportedly agreed to pay McConaughey $10 million a year to serve as creative advisor and TV pitchman.

Salesforce has already slashed thousands of workers from its ranks this year.

But the cloud-based software company may still be paying millions to harness the star power of actor Matthew McConaughey.

Salesforce reportedly agreed to pay McConaughey $10 million a year to serve as its "creative advisor and TV pitchman," The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday, citing people familiar with the arrangement.

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However, it's unclear what the terms of the contract are or when the contract even began. Representatives for Salesforce declined Insider's request for a comment.

Last year, McConaughey starred in the company's Super Bowl ad, donning an astronaut suit aboard a hot air balloon. According to the Journal, Salesforce paid $5 million to run the ad, which Benioff considered a small price in comparison to the company's 70,000-person payroll.

McConaughey and the musician will.i.am —who has long been involved in the tech industry — have also reportedly taken part in high level strategy discussions at Salesforce.

The contract with McConaughey may stem from the company's showy efforts to raise its profile over the years.

Though most consumers don't have direct experience dealing with Salesforce's software bundle, the company has catapulted into a recognizable name— at least in the Silicon Valley bubble— for a marketing strategy that relies on big names.

Starting in 2003, the company began hosting a days long conference in downtown San Francisco that has drawn the likes of former president Barack Obama, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke.