Salesforce Joins Dow Jones, Posts Record Quarterly Earnings

Q2 Revenue $5.15 Billion, Up 29% YoY
Founded in 1999 by Oracle Alum Marc Benioff
Surpassed Oracle's Market Cap Last July
Set Record Quarterly Earnings, Joining Dow Jones Index at Month-End

▲Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Salesforce.com, a provider of cloud computing services, has recorded its highest quarterly revenue ever. Salesforce is scheduled to be included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, composed of 30 leading U.S. stocks, at the end of this month.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 25th (local time), Salesforce announced that its revenue for the second quarter reached $5.15 billion, a 29% increase compared to the same period last year. This is the highest quarterly revenue in history and far exceeded Wall Street's forecast of $4.87 billion.

Salesforce stated, "The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the expansion of remote work in corporate and public sectors, which has positively impacted cloud demand and contributed to our revenue growth."

Salesforce started as a cloud software company, founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, a former Oracle executive. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, began his career at Oracle after graduating from college and was recognized for his outstanding capabilities, becoming the youngest vice president in Oracle's history at age 26, during his third year at the company. He was also considered one of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's most favored employees.

Salesforce is one of the five fastest-growing software companies and maintains an unshakable number one position in the customer relationship management (CRM) sector. It entered the Korean market in 2007 and counts major companies such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, and Amorepacific among its clients.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2004, Salesforce surpassed Oracle's market capitalization in July. As of the 25th (local time), Salesforce's market capitalization stood at $194.661 billion (approximately 231 trillion KRW), about $22.5 billion higher than Oracle's $172.122 billion.

Riding this trend, Salesforce will be included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average starting on the 31st.

Howard Silverblatt, an S&P index analyst, explained, "Due to Apple, the proportion of technology stocks in the Dow fell from 27.6% to 20.3%. Adding Salesforce will raise it to 23.1%."

S&P added that the inclusion of new types of companies aims to better reflect U.S. economic conditions by removing overlaps of similar companies.

On the day Salesforce announced its highest quarterly performance, its stock price surged more than 10% in after-hours trading.

Salesforce forecasts next quarter's revenue to be between $5.24 billion and $5.25 billion.