Salesforce Surprises With $2.6B Gain on Anthropic Investment

Salesforce, a software giant, surprised investors by posting significantly better-than-expected quarterly results. The company's adjusted earnings of $5.90 per share far exceeded Wall Street forecasts of $3.27, while revenue came in at $11.35 billion, only slightly above expectations.

The surprise was largely driven by the company's interest in Anthropic, which added a $2.6 billion gain to strategic investments in the quarter. Meanwhile, Salesforce's own AI business is gaining momentum, with Agentforce Annualized revenue exceeding $1.5 billion and growing 240% year-over-year.

The company also boosted its full-year revenue expectation to $46.1-$46.4 billion from $45.9-$46.2 billion, while free cash flow climbed 81% to $1.10 billion. This mix of financial payback from Anthropic and growth from Salesforce's own AI products helped assuage fears that generative AI could undermine traditional software firms.