Salesforce reports 29,000 Agentforce deals closed and $800 million in annual recurring revenue, positioning Agentforce as a digital labour platform meant to replace categories of human work. Despite these figures, Salesforce shares have fallen sharply in 2025 and again in 2026 amid a broader SaaS selloff. The market reaction reflects concerns that AI agents could reduce the number of employee seats a company needs. Salesforce frames its value as selling agents rather than seats, citing enterprise adoption metrics. However, showcased implementations have not held up under scrutiny, with demo agents struggling with specific questions and relying on future capabilities rather than working, live functionality.
"Salesforce has a problem that no amount of marketing can fix. The company has built its entire narrative around Agentforce, its AI agent platform, and the numbers look impressive on paper: 29,000 deals closed, $800 million in annual recurring revenue, and a roadmap that promises to replace entire categories of human work. But Wall Street is not buying it, and the gap between what Salesforce shows on stage and what customers actually use keeps getting wider."
"The stock tells the story. Salesforce shares fell nearly 21 per cent in 2025 and have dropped another 30 per cent so far in 2026. The decline tracks a broader selloff in software-as-a-service companies, an event the market has taken to calling the SaaSpocalypse. Roughly $285 billion in SaaS market capitalisation evaporated in a single 48-hour window in February. The logic is simple: if one AI agent can do the work of ten employees, why would a company pay for ten seats?"
"Salesforce has tried to get ahead of that question by positioning itself as the company that sells the agents rather than the seats. CEO Marc Benioff has called Agentforce a “digital labour platform.” On earnings calls, the company cites the 29,000 deals and the ARR figure as proof that enterprises are buying in. The trouble is that the showcase examples keep falling apart under scrutiny."
"At Dreamforce, Salesforce demonstrated a Williams-Sonoma AI agent called Olive that was supposed to act as an agentic sous chef, helping customers plan meals and find products. In practice, Olive struggled with specific questions and recommendations. The agent's more advanced capabilities were described using future tense, “will soon be able to,”"
Read at TNW | Apps
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]