Layoffs: Salesforce Planning To Slash Jobs At Recently Acquired Start-up Own

The firm informed workers at the start-up, Own, in a presentation this week that some roles will not be needed ‘post harmonisation’. The last date for the impacted employees will be Jan 31, 2025

Own, focuses on securing data across software applications, and is the company’s biggest acquisition since Slack.

Source : Salesforce

Salesforce Inc is planning to slash jobs at Own, the data management start-up it acquired for nearly $2 billion. The firm informed workers of the start-up in a presentation this week that some roles will not be needed ‘post harmonisation’.

The last date for the employees that will be impacted by the decision will be January 31, 2025, reported Bloomberg. Some other jobs will remain ‘transitional’ and be required for three to 12 months to provide integration support on a fixed short-term basis, the firm said in its presentation.

The deal was announced by Salesforce in September. On Monday, Own said on LinkedIn that the acquisition deal has been completed. A spokesperson for Salesforce declined to comment on the layoffs, the report noted.

The immediately planned layoffs highlight the company’s stricter approach to acquisitions after years of quick expansion. Major mergers such as Tableau in 2019 or Slack in 2021 saw an addition of thousands of workers to overall workforce, boosting expenses, and technical complexity.

The company’s strategy for growth via deals received criticism from activist investors beginning in late 2022, resulting in the firm making changes like disbanding its mergers and acquisitions committee and slashing 10 per cent of its overall workforce early last year.

The firm said that it will take a more strict approach to future purchases. Own, focuses on securing data across software applications, and is the company’s biggest acquisition since Slack. The merger worth $1.9 billion includes nearly 1,000 workers at Own, the report said citing sources.

The report stated that analysts expect Own to provide a boost to Salesforce’s Data Cloud services, which help customers organise and analyse information across apps. Earlier this month, the company said that it will bring on board over 1,000 individuals to help sell its new generative AI agent product.