Salesforce is now all about profits and margins. That promises CEO Marc Benioff to nip a shareholder revolt in the bud.

Salesforce’s top executives have their hands full with investors Starboard Value and Elliot Management. Activist shareholders disagree with certain decisions the board has made in recent years, such as the acquisitions of Tableau and Salesforce. By putting some men on the board, Elliott wants to force a sale of the subsidiaries.

CEO Marc Benioff made a call last night to explain recent quarterly results that were positive for Salesforce. The CRM specialist reported quarterly revenue of $8.4 billion, with guidance remaining below $8 billion. Profit margins were also significantly higher than expected at 22.4 percent.

Profit is the key

There’s only one word to placate disgruntled shareholders, and that’s “profit.” The fact that Salesforce sees the profitability of its products increasing is therefore not unimportant in order to find peace of mind again. Benioff also promised shareholders that profit would be Salesforce’s primary goal from now on, writes the Financial Times.

“We have never had a focus on efficiency within the organization as we have experienced continuous growth over the past 24 years. Since our last meeting, we have thoroughly reviewed our strategy. Changes that usually take months are now happening in weeks,” said the CEO.

This round was therefore won by Benioff. It remains to be seen whether Salesforce will be completely calm again. The company had to lay off 10 percent of its workforce to cut costs. There are also rumors that the relationship with the subsidiary Slack has already deteriorated significantly.