Activist investor Elliott ditches director nomination plans for Salesforce

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management won't be proceeding with plans to nominate its own directors to Salesforce's board, citing improved performance and a clearer "focus on value creation" from the enterprise software company.

Elliott is one of five activist investors within Salesforce's ranks, after news emerged at the turn of the year that it had bought a multi-billion dollar stake in the company. Ahead of Salesforce's recent Q4 earnings, Elliott confirmed that it was pushing several of its own candidates toward the board after a turbulent 2022 for Salesforce -- but after a return to financial form, beating growth forecasts and announcing more shareholder returns, it seems this has been enough to convince Elliott that Salesforce has corrected course.

In a joint statement today, the companies said that in light of Salesforce's recently announced "profitable growth framework" dubbed "New Day," alongside its strong fiscal year 2023 and a slew of additional "transformation initiatives," Elliott won't pursue its director nominations.

"I have great respect for Marc [Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff] and his team, and I have become deeply impressed by their strong ongoing commitment to profitable growth, responsible capital return and an ambitious shareholder value creation plan," Elliott managing partner Jesse Cohn noted in a press release.