Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce ($CRM) is a big man - literally, at well over six feet tall - with a big appetite for everything. Dreamforce, an annual event held in San Francisco, is one of the largest technology conferences in the world, perhaps because he does not believe in doing anything on a small scale. Since inception in 1999, Salesforce has consummated some of the boldest acquisitions (like Tableau and Mulesoft) in software history. At one point, it even deliberated buying Twitter ($TWTR). The biggest purchase ever done by Salesforce was Slack Technologies ($WORK) in early 2021, a $27.7 billion dollar transaction funded by a mix of cash and $CRM stock.

So, on last evening's Q4 2023 earnings call, when the company announced the disbanding of its M&A committee, Wall Street was surprised. It was strongly suggested by management that Salesforce had been nudged by investors to refocus on profitability, hence the new "No M&A" diet. Below is a relevant quote from Q4 2023 transcript:

"On M&A, we are confident in our current portfolio and are focused on continued integration of current assets. Reflective of this, you have already heard from Marc that the

I write on a weekly blog called Consume Your Own Tech Investing. Check it out and subscribe - it is free.