NEW YORK, Jan 13, 2026, 15:48 EST — Regular session
- Salesforce (CRM) shares dropped roughly 7% in late-afternoon trading, standing out as one of the Dow’s largest decliners.
- The drop coincides with a rush by companies to develop “AI agents” — software designed to perform tasks rather than just respond to queries.
- Next, Salesforce will report earnings on Feb. 25 after the market closes, a crucial check on demand and guidance.
Salesforce shares dropped almost 7% Tuesday afternoon, deepening the selloff in one of the Dow’s most expensive stocks. By 3:48 p.m. EST, the stock had fallen 6.9% to $241.62.
The timing is rough. Investors have been banking on Salesforce’s claim that its new artificial intelligence tools will sustain growth, even as companies scrutinize their tech budgets down to the last dollar.
This matters because the stock’s sharp drop often ripples through other enterprise software shares. When a major player takes a hit this severe, traders usually see it as a signal on demand for “growth” stocks — companies priced on profits expected down the line.
Salesforce has launched a revamped Slackbot aimed at Business+ and Enterprise+ users, branding it as an AI agent, according to VentureBeat. CTO Parker Harris described it as a “Porsche.” 1
Anthropic’s competitors aren’t standing still. They rolled out Cowork, a feature in Claude Desktop enabling users to direct Claude to a folder for reading or editing files, TechCrunch reported. 2
The broader market struggled. U.S. stocks dipped following consumer price data that matched expectations, keeping rate-cut bets mostly unchanged, Reuters reported. Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, described the move as “a little bit of letting the air out of the balloon” after recent record peaks.
Software stocks faced declines across the board. Adobe dropped 5.6%, ServiceNow slid 3.6%, Microsoft edged down 0.9%, and Oracle fell 1.6%.
Salesforce’s decline hit the price-weighted Dow hard. MarketWatch reported that drops in Salesforce and Visa together chopped about 194 points from the index earlier in the session.
Salesforce has shifted the narrative on AI and profit margins. In December, it boosted its fiscal 2026 revenue forecast to between $41.45 billion and $41.55 billion, while also raising its adjusted earnings guidance, citing strong demand for its AI products, Reuters reported.
The bar remains high. Customers often spend months testing AI tools before committing to larger contracts, and the costs of scaling automation can catch them off guard—whether in soaring compute bills, increased support demands, or slower rollouts within large companies.
