While most headlines fixate on Salesforce’s aggressive push into AI agents and its $60 billion revenue target, something else happened in early December that speaks volumes about who’s really calling the shots.
Salesforce (CRM), a Dow Jones 30 stock, increased its quarterly dividend to $0.416 per share, a modest but telling move that landed just as activist hedge fund Starboard Value was ramping up pressure once again.
Activist investors have been circling Salesforce like sharks since late 2022, demanding higher capital returns and operational efficiency.
Many thought the battle was over after the CRM giant delivered strong results in 2023 and activists such as Elliott Management quietly exited.
But Starboard never fully left, and by mid-2025, it had loaded up on CRM stock again, boosting its stake by nearly 50% in Q2 of 2025, CNBC reported.
That dividend increase, paid out last month, is Salesforce’s way of saying it hears the message loud and clear.
The company is prioritizing shareholder returns over expensive, speculative acquisitions, exactly what activists have been demanding.
Salesforce is distributing less than a sixth of its earnings as dividends.BGetty Images Bloomberg 02132026 ·BGetty Images Bloomberg 02132026
According to data from Tikr.com, between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2030, analysts tracking CRM stock forecast it to increase:
Revenue from $37.9 billion to $59.75 billion
Adjusted earnings per share from $10.20 to $20.1
Free cash flow from $12.43 billion to $20.53 billion
Payout Ratio: 12% (conservative, leaving room for growth)
Dividend Frequency: Quarterly payments
The low payout ratio of around 15% is notable. It means Salesforce is distributing less than a sixth of its earnings as dividends, giving it substantial flexibility to increase payouts over time while still investing heavily in AI infrastructure and acquisitions.
Starboard Value, a hedge fund led by CEO Jeffrey Smith, was among the first to publicly pressure Salesforce three years ago.
While other activists took their profits and moved on after the company’s turnaround in 2023, Starboard stuck around, watching and waiting.
By August 2025, Salesforce stock had cratered nearly 30% since January, making it clear that Wall Street wasn’t buying the AI transformation story.
Starboard saw an opening, and the firm increased its holdings to 1.3 million shares by June 30, up from 849,679 shares just three months earlier.
Starboard is known for revisiting companies it believes are backsliding on promises, and Salesforce’s stock performance suggested exactly that.
Currently, Salesforce stock is down 50% from its all-time high and has significantly underperformed the broader market over the past few years.
That kind of underperformance doesn’t sit well with activist investors, who pushed the company to streamline operations and boost profitability.
The dividend hike was one way to ease the tension without sacrificing the company’s aggressive AI investment plans.
Here’s where things get interesting.
Salesforce is betting the entire company on becoming what executives call an “agentic enterprise.”
During the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January 2026, Salesforce President Mark Sullivan painted a picture of a company transforming entire industries through AI agents that don’t just analyze data, but also execute tasks.
Salesforce generated $550 million in annual recurring revenue from its Agentforce AI product in just over a year, a 4.5x jump year over year.
The SaaS giant closed 1,900 Agentforce transactions and now has 18,000 customers using the technology, with 9,500 of them paying for it.
Sales Chief Miguel Milano, speaking at a Barclays conference in December, shared even more aggressive data.
More than 50% of Agentforce bookings in Q3 came from existing customers “refilling the tank,” meaning they’re consuming more AI services than initially purchased. The company had 362 customers come back for additional capacity.
But here’s the catch. Wall Street isn’t convinced AI agents will replace the sticky, high-margin subscription model that made Salesforce a cash machine.
Concerns about AI disruption hammered software stocks across the board in early February 2026, with Salesforce dropping 27% year to date.
Investors worry that AI could automate workflows, erode pricing power, and lower barriers to entry for new competitors.
That’s why the dividend matters so much. It signals that, even as Salesforce pours capital into AI infrastructure, acquisitions such as Informatica, and new product development, it remains committed to returning cash to shareholders.
Salesforce quietly declared a $0.416 quarterly dividend on Dec. 4, 2025, a 4% bump over the previous year.
By raising the dividend without fanfare, Salesforce showed it’s listening without appearing desperate or reactive.
The move also reflects broader pressure facing software companies in 2026. Legacy SaaS firms, once valued for their predictable subscription revenue, are now under intense scrutiny as AI threatens to upend their business models.
Companies failing to demonstrate that AI is a growth enabler, rather than a competitive threat, are getting hammered.
Salesforce is trying to thread the needle. It’s investing heavily in AI infrastructure through acquisitions including Informatica, Regrello, and Waii, while building out its agentic platform.
Salesforce is serious about AI, but it is not abandoning traditional capital allocation discipline.
The shift from traditional SaaS to consumption-based AI models introduces uncertainty around revenue predictability.
That’s where the dividend comes in. It’s a tangible, reliable return for investors who aren’t ready to bet big on Salesforce’s AI transformation.
This strategy could work if Salesforce executes on its vision. During the Barclays conference, Milano revealed that customers adopting the full agentic platform see their spending with Salesforce multiply by three to four times.
If that’s true, and if adoption accelerates, the growth story could validate the AI investments.
But if adoption stalls or pricing power erodes, that dividend will become even more important as a tool to keep activists at bay.
With a conservative 12% payout ratio and strong free cash flow generation, Salesforce has plenty of room to further increase its dividend if activist pressure intensifies.
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