Salesforce Announces Record Quarter, Slack Impacts Guidance

Salesforce has announced its fourth quarter results, turning in a record-breaking quarter and raising its fiscal 2022 revenue guidance.

Marc Benioff has long had the goal of Salesforce surpassing $20 billion in a year. Salesforce managed to do that, and then some, in fiscal 2021. Total revenue was $21.25 billion, up 24% year-over-year.

Fourth quarter revenue was up 20%, year-over-year, coming in at $5.82 billion.

“We never could have predicted a year ago what was in store, which makes me incredibly proud of how well we pivoted our company to adapt to this pandemic world,” said Marc Benioff, Chair & CEO of Salesforce. “We had a record quarter and year by innovating more and faster than ever, enabling our customers to be successful from anywhere, and becoming more relevant and strategic than ever. And we continued to serve all of our stakeholders in a time when they needed it most.”

The company also raised its fiscal 2022 revenue guidance to between $25.65 billion and $25.75 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.42 billion. However, Salesforce is projecting lower-than-expected profit, between $3.39 and $3.41 per share, as opposed to the $3.49 analysts were expecting. The stock was down 3.9% as a result of the guidance.

Much of the hit to the projected profit is as a result of the Slack acquisition, valued at $27.7 billion. Even though Salesforce expects Slack to contribute $600 million to its revenue in the fiscal year, that’s still a far cry from the purchase price, and it will take some time before the acquisition pays for itself.