Salesforce to Sell Anthropic Stake, Cash In on 'Tens of Billions' Gain
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has a plan to cash in on his company's investment in AI lab Anthropic, which he expects will be worth 'tens of billions'. Speaking at Dreamforce, Benioff revealed that Salesforce invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Anthropic stock, and the valuation has skyrocketed. The AI lab's valuation reached $965 billion after a $65 billion Series H funding round in May.
The investment boost was reflected in Salesforce's income statement last quarter, with a $2.6 billion gain on strategic investments tied to the Anthropic bet. The stock also jumped almost 23% on the news, its best day since 2020. However, Benioff's plan is to sell the stake and use the proceeds to pay off the accelerated share repurchase debt Salesforce took on earlier this year.
The sale would not only eliminate the volatility of Anthropic's swings affecting Salesforce's earnings but also strip a volatile input from future quarters. This move could be seen as strategic, given that Salesforce is one of Anthropic's largest customers, with Benioff projecting $300 million in token spending this year, mostly on coding workloads.