Sina Science and Technology News Beijing time on December 1 morning news, the world's largest CRM software service provider Salesforce.com Inc today announced the company's fiscal year 2023 third quarter financial results. According to the report, Salesforce.com Inc's total revenue in the third quarter was $7.837 billion, up 14% from $6.863 billion in the same period last year, up 19% year-on-year, excluding exchange rate changes; net profit was $210 million, down 55% from $468 million in the same period last year; diluted earnings per share were $0.21, compared with $0.47 per share in the same period last year.

Salesforce.com Inc also announced that the company's co-CEO Brett Taylor (Bret Taylor) will leave, the current CEO and co-founder Mark Benioff (Marc Benioff) will become the sole head of the company.

Salesforce.com Inc's third-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share both beat Wall Street analysts' expectations, but the outlook for revenue for the fourth quarter and for the entire fiscal year 2023 was lower than expected, causing its shares to fall nearly 8 per cent in after-hours trading.

Main achievements:

Salesforce.com Inc's net profit for the quarter ended October 31 was $210 million, down 55% from $468 million in the same period last year, and diluted earnings per share were 21 cents per share, compared with 47 cents a share in the same period last year.

Excluding certain one-time items (not in accordance with US GAAP), Salesforce.com Inc's adjusted net income for the third quarter was $1.398 billion, compared with $1.273 billion in the same period last year, and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $1.40. compared with adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.27 in the same period last year, the performance exceeded analysts' expectations. According to data provided by Yahoo Finance Channel, 39 analysts had expected Salesforce.com Inc's adjusted earnings per share to reach $1.21 in the third quarter.

Salesforce.com Inc's total revenue in the third quarter was $7.837 billion, up 14% from $6.863 billion in the same period last year, and 19% year-on-year growth excluding exchange rate changes, which also exceeded analysts' expectations. According to data provided by Yahoo Finance Channel, 37 analysts had expected Salesforce.com Inc's revenue in the third quarter to reach 7.82 billion US dollars on average.

By business category:

-Salesforce.com Inc's subscription and support business had revenue of $7.233 billion in the third quarter, compared with $6.379 billion in the same period last year, accounting for 92 per cent of total revenue, compared with 93 per cent in the same period last year.

Within the subscription and support business:

(1) sales revenue in the third quarter was $1.717 billion, compared with $1.538 billion in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 17% excluding exchange rate changes.

(2) Services revenue in the third quarter was $1.856 billion, compared with $1.658 billion in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 16% excluding exchange rate changes.

(3) platform and other businesses had revenue of $1.513 billion in the third quarter, compared with $1.277 billion in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 22% excluding exchange rate changes.

(4) Marketing and business revenue in the third quarter was $1.129 billion, compared with $1.006 billion in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 18% excluding exchange rate changes.

(5) revenue from the data business in the third quarter was $1.018 billion, compared with $900 million in the same period last year, a year-on-year growth rate of 16% excluding exchange rate changes.

-Salesforce.com Inc's professional services and other businesses generated $604 million in revenue in the third quarter, up 45 per cent from $484 million in the same period last year, and accounted for 8 per cent of total revenue, compared with 7 per cent in the same period last year.

By region:

-Salesforce.com Inc's Americas business had revenue of US $5.361 billion in the third quarter, compared with US $4.638 billion in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 16% excluding exchange rate changes.

-European revenue in the third quarter was $1.745 billion, compared with $1.581 billion in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 23% excluding exchange rate changes

-revenue from the Asia-Pacific business in the third quarter was $731 million, compared with $644 million in the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 30 per cent excluding exchange rate changes.

Salesforce.com Inc's total operating costs in the third quarter were $2.088 billion, compared with $1.844 billion in the same period last year. Of this total, the revenue cost of the subscription and support business was $1.451 billion, compared with $1.335 billion in the same period last year, and the revenue cost of professional services and other businesses was $637 million, compared with $509 million in the same period last year. Salesforce.com Inc's total operating costs accounted for 27% of revenue in the third quarter, unchanged from the same period last year. Of this total, revenue costs for subscription and support businesses accounted for 19 per cent of revenue, compared with 20 per cent for the same period last year, and revenue costs for professional services and other businesses accounted for 8 per cent of revenue, compared with 7 per cent for the same period last year.

Salesforce.com Inc's total operating expenses in the third quarter were $5.289 billion, compared with $4.981 billion in the same period last year. Of this total, R & D expenditure was $1.28 billion, compared with $1.203 billion in the same period last year; marketing and sales expenditure was $3.345 billion, compared to $3.111 billion in the same period last year; and general and administrative expenses were $6.64. compared to $667 million in the same period last year. Salesforce.com Inc's operating expenses accounted for 67 per cent of total revenue in the third quarter, compared with 72 per cent in the same period last year. Of this total, R & D expenditure accounted for 16 per cent of total revenue, compared with 18 per cent in the same period last year; marketing and sales accounted for 43 per cent of total revenue, compared with 45 per cent in the same period last year; general and administrative expenses accounted for 8 per cent of total revenue, compared with 9 per cent in the same period last year.

Salesforce.com Inc's operating profit in the third quarter was $460 million, compared with $38 million in the same period last year; it accounted for 6 per cent of total revenue, or operating profit margin, compared with 1 per cent in the same period last year. Excluding some one-time items (not in accordance with US GAAP), Salesforce.com Inc's adjusted operating profit in the third quarter was $1.777 billion, compared with $1.358 billion in the same period last year. The proportion of total revenue (that is, adjusted operating profit margin) was 22.7%, compared with 19.8% in the same period last year.

Salesforce.com Inc's cash from business operations in the third quarter was $310 million, down 23 per cent from the same period last year, while free cash flow was $120 million, down 52 per cent from the same period last year.

By the end of the third quarter, Salesforce.com Inc's remaining performance obligations were $40 billion, up 10 per cent from the same period last year.

Performance outlook:

Outlook for fourth quarter results:

Salesforce.com Inc expects revenue of $7.932 billion to $8.032 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, up 8% to 10% from a year earlier, with an average of $7.982 billion falling short of analysts' expectations; losses per share are expected to reach 23 cents to $0.25; earnings per share, not in accordance with general accounting standards, are expected to reach $1.35 to $1.37, exceeding analysts' expectations.

According to data provided by Yahoo Finance Channel, 37 analysts had expected Salesforce.com Inc's revenue in the fourth quarter to reach $8.02 billion, while 39 analysts expected Salesforce.com Inc's adjusted earnings per share to reach $1.34 in the fourth quarter.

Performance outlook for fiscal year 2023:

Salesforce.com Inc also predicts that in fiscal year 2023, the company's revenue will reach between $30.9 billion and $31 billion, an increase of about 17% over the same period last year, and its average ($30.95 billion) falls short of analysts' expectations; earnings per share are expected to reach $0.55 to $0.57; earnings per share, not in accordance with US general accounting standards, are expected to reach $4.92 to $4.94, exceeding analysts' expectations Operating cash flow is expected to grow 16 per cent year-on-year; operating margins are expected to reach 3.8 per cent, and adjusted operating margins are expected to reach 20.7 per cent, not in accordance with US GAAP.

According to data provided by Yahoo Finance Channel, 46 analysts had expected Salesforce.com Inc's annual revenue to reach $30.99 billion on average, while 45 analysts had expected Salesforce.com Inc's annual adjusted earnings per share to reach $4.73.

Stock price response:

Salesforce.com Inc shares rose $8.57, or 5.65 per cent, to $160.25 on the day. Salesforce.com Inc shares fell 7.87 per cent, or $12.61, to $147.64 in after-hours trading as of 05:48 EDT on Wednesday (06:48 Beijing time on Thursday). In the past 52 weeks, Salesforce.com Inc's highest price is $276.94 and the lowest price is $136.04.