The Bengal Story Bureau | SAN FRANCISCO: Salesforce has laid off 86 employees in its second round of job cuts this year, with the affected roles spread across its Agentforce AI product, the MuleSoft IT integration platform and its Marketing Cloud software, according to a California WARN notice filed by the company.
The cuts cover positions in sales, general administration, and technology and product functions. Roles in Washington state and outside the United States have also been impacted, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Business Insider, which first reported the layoffs. One person familiar with the decisions said the core Agentforce engineering team was not directly affected — the layoffs targeted adjacent roles.
Affected employees in California will remain on the payroll until August 7, 2026.
A Third Round in Nine Months
This is the third major round of layoffs at Salesforce in nine months. A February 2026 round eliminated close to 1,000 roles, and a September 2025 cut affected 262 positions in San Francisco. Earlier this year, the company also slashed its customer support workforce from 9,000 to 5,000 – roughly 4,000 jobs in a single division.
Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest private employer, still has more than 80,000 employees globally.
Severance Terms
According to internal documents reviewed by Business Insider, eligible employees in the United States are entitled to severance of up to 30 weeks of pay, calculated on the basis of seniority, length of service and age. Senior directors and director-level employees receive 13 weeks of base pay, while senior managers and those below receive nine weeks. Employees aged 60 and above receive an additional four weeks.
The AI Paradox at the Heart of the Cuts
The timing of the layoffs is what makes them notable. Last month, Salesforce disclosed that Agentforce annual recurring revenue had crossed $1 billion, with the company raising its estimate to roughly $1.2 billion. Chief Executive Marc Benioff has publicly positioned Agentforce as the company’s AI future – a platform that lets businesses deploy autonomous AI agents for customer service, sales and marketing tasks.
Yet a Business Insider report in November had said Agentforce usage remained relatively low and that the product’s real-world capabilities were not matching the company’s promotional demonstrations. Analysts have noted that the revenue figure reflects contract bookings more than daily active usage – a distinction that matters for enterprise buyers evaluating the platform.
Stock Under Pressure
The cuts come against a sharp slide in Salesforce’s share price. CRM stock is down more than 30 per cent year-to-date in 2026, making it the worst performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The decline follows a roughly 20 per cent fall through 2025.
Industry analysts have begun using the term “SaaSpocalypse” to describe the broader pressure on traditional software-as-a-service companies, as enterprise buyers consolidate spending and weigh whether AI agents can replace seat-based subscription licences.
What Happens Next
Salesforce has not publicly disclosed the strategic reason behind this round of cuts. The company is also digesting its November 2025 acquisition of data-management firm Informatica, which is being folded into the Salesforce platform. With the third layoff round in under a year, attention is likely to shift to the firm’s first-quarter FY27 results and any forward commentary from Benioff on Agentforce adoption and headcount strategy.