The $25 billion capital-allocation move
Salesforce executed a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase in its fiscal first quarter, funding the transaction with a matching $25 billion debt issuance. The company described it as the largest such deal in its history, retiring roughly a tenth of its diluted share count in a single transaction and lifting its share-repurchase program to $27.1 billion.
Cut to fiscal 2027 cash-flow growth guidance
When Salesforce reported fiscal first-quarter results in late May, management told investors that fiscal 2027 operating and free-cash-flow growth would be slower than previously projected. The fiscal 2027 free-cash-flow growth guide was reduced to 4% to 5%, from the earlier 9% to 10% range, reflecting the cash cost of the debt-funded buyback.
Earnings backdrop and balance-sheet signal
The buyback was sized against a quarter in which Salesforce reported $3.88 in earnings per share on $11.13 billion in revenue, up 13.3% year over year, and set full-year fiscal 2027 EPS guidance of $14.060–$14.120. The debt funding for the repurchase marks a shift toward leverage as a tool for returning capital, with the company’s diluted share count now about 10% lower than a year ago.
Other developments
Separately, Six Five Media announced that Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff will deliver the Day 1 opening keynote interview at The Six Five Summit: AI Unleashed 2026, a free virtual enterprise-AI event running August 25–27. Elsewhere, S&CO Inc. disclosed a new 2,839-share position in Salesforce valued at roughly $444,000 during the second quarter, while several large institutional holders, including Vanguard Group, State Street, J. Stern & Co., Capital International Investors and Geode Capital Management, also reported recent increases in their stakes.
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