- Salesforce announced layoffs of 86 employees in California across AI and software divisions
- This is Salesforce's third California layoff round in less than a year, totaling 399 job cuts
- Affected teams include Agentforce, MuleSoft, and Marketing Cloud in sales, tech, and admin roles
Salesforce's latest round of layoffs has reignited the debate over whether artificial intelligence is creating jobs or eliminating them. Just weeks after the software giant celebrated crossing $1 billion in annualised revenue from its flagship AI product Agentforce, the company has cut dozens of roles across key business units, underscoring the complex realities of the AI transition.
Salesforce plans to lay off 86 employees in California, according to a filing with the state's Employment Development Department, marking the software company's third disclosed round of job cuts in the state in less than a year.
The latest disclosure was made through a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed on June 8. California records show Salesforce previously filed WARN notices affecting 262 employees in September 2025 and 51 employees in March 2026, bringing the total number of disclosed job cuts in the state to 399 over the period.
Under California law, covered employers are generally required to provide advance notice to employees and state authorities before certain mass layoffs, relocations or facility closures.
According to a California regulatory filing cited by Business Insider, the employees laid off in Salesforce are across its artificial intelligence, IT integration and marketing software divisions. The reductions impacted teams associated with Agentforce, MuleSoft and Marketing Cloud, spanning sales, administrative, technology and product roles. Employees in Washington state and international locations were also affected, although the report noted that the core Agentforce development team remained untouched.
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The move comes at a time when Salesforce has been aggressively positioning itself as a leader in enterprise AI. Last month, the company disclosed that annualised revenue from Agentforce had surpassed the $1 billion mark, a significant milestone for a product launched to help businesses deploy autonomous AI agents for customer service, sales and operational tasks.
Salesforce has sought to cushion the impact with one of the more generous severance packages seen in the technology sector. Eligible US employees can receive up to 30 weeks of pay, depending on seniority, tenure and age. Director-level employees are entitled to 13 weeks of base pay, while senior managers and lower-level staff receive nine weeks, with additional weeks granted based on years of service. Workers aged 60 and above qualify for enhanced benefits, including up to 30 weeks of severance and 12 months of COBRA healthcare coverage.
Investor sentiment has also weighed on the stock, which has fallen more than 30% this year amid concerns that advances in large language models and autonomous AI agents could eventually reduce demand for traditional enterprise software, including customer relationship management platforms.
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