Salesforce's Anthropic Bet Likely Worth 'Tens of Billions' — And Benioff Plans to Cash In

Marc Benioff has a plan for the most profitable investment Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM ) ever made: sell it and retire debt . Speaking to a gathering at Dreamforce this week, the Salesforce CEO said the company spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Anthropic stock, a position he expects will likely be worth tens of billions, according to CNBC. CRM stock is moving. See the chart and price action here. “We’ll end up probably selling it,” Benioff said, adding that proceeds would pay off the accelerated share repurchase debt Salesforce took on earlier this year. “So it’ll be a good trade for us.” The Math Behind the Bet Salesforce Ventures first backed Anthropic in early 2023. Since then, the AI lab’s valuation has gone vertical. Anthropi...