Salesforce, a major cloud-based software company, has laid off thousands of employees even after reporting a strong quarter with a 10 percent increase in revenue, totaling over $10.2 billion. The cuts disproportionately affected the customer support team, which was reduced from 9,000 to 5,000 employees. This move is part of the company’s shift towards using AI agents to handle customer inquiries.

CEO Marc Benioff stated that the company “needs less heads” and that AI is already performing a significant amount of the work, leading to what he calls an “efficiency gain.” The layoffs come as the company projects a lower-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, citing a cutback in client spending due to broader macroeconomic uncertainties. This trend of focusing on automation and reducing headcount, even amid solid financial performance, is also being seen in other tech companies.

Source: This rewritten article is based on reporting from Al Jazeera.