Key Takeaways
- Salesforce’s diluted share count fell from 962 million to 821 million in a year as its $25 billion accelerated buyback landed, a drop of about 15%.
- Total debt climbed from $11.81 billion to $42.38 billion over the same stretch, and the financing cut the company’s fiscal 2027 free cash flow growth outlook roughly in half.
- Marc Benioff has floated selling the Anthropic stake to repay that debt, but Salesforce’s entire long-term investment line sits at $11.32 billion, well short of the borrowing.
Salesforce now splits its cash flow across far fewer shares while carrying about 3.6 times last year’s debt. Track Salesforce’s share count and debt load on TIKR for free →
Salesforce Stock Got Smaller While the Balance Sheet Got Heavier
On September 21, Salesforce (CRM) director David Kirk bought 4,176 shares at an average of $239.33, a purchase worth just under $1 million. Kirk spent years at Nvidia, and the buy came days after Marc Benioff pointed him out in the Dreamforce keynote crowd, seated beside Jensen Huang.
Three weeks earlier, fellow director Craig Conway had sold 4,500 shares at about $260.50. By the September 22 close, the stock sat at $233.28.
The insider trades drew the headlines. The bigger buyer was the company itself.
In March, Salesforce launched a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase, the largest in its history, and took delivery of 103 million shares up front. It paid for the deal with roughly $25 billion in new debt. Robin Washington, Salesforce’s President and Chief Operating and Financial Officer, said the program should retire at least 14% of shares outstanding at an expected average price near $182, with final settlement due in October.
The effect is already visible. Weighted average diluted shares dropped from 962 million in the quarter ended July 2025 to 821 million in the quarter ended July 2026. Nearly all of that came after January, when the count still stood at 940 million.
The balance sheet shows the other side of the trade.
Total debt rose from $11.81 billion in July 2025 to $42.38 billion in July 2026, including a $24.84 billion jump in the quarter the buyback began.
That debt carries a cost. When Salesforce reported first-quarter results in May, it cut its fiscal 2027 free cash flow growth outlook to 4% to 5%, down from 9% to 10%, citing about five percentage points of drag from the financing. Management held that lower range in August.
So Salesforce now grows cash flow more slowly but divides it among roughly 15% fewer shares. The per-share story has quietly become a balance sheet story.
Salesforce’s diluted share count fell by 141 million in a year while total debt rose past $42 billion. Compare Salesforce’s debt and share count history on TIKR for free →
The Anthropic Stake Now Has to Carry the Buyback
The least-discussed part of this story came near the end of Investor Day. Benioff said Salesforce’s early Anthropic investment, bought for hundreds of millions of dollars, will probably become tens of billions. He then said the company would likely sell it and pay off the buyback debt, calling it a trade of Anthropic stock “for the 14% dilution that we gained back.”
If that sale happens near those values, the math looks excellent. Salesforce would have retired about a seventh of its shares with borrowed money and repaid the loan with a gain on a startup stake. The latest close of $233.28 also sits about 28% above the expected average repurchase price near $182.
The balance sheet is less generous. Salesforce’s entire long-term investment line was $11.32 billion in July, more than double the $5.01 billion a year earlier but still only about a quarter of total debt. Benioff’s figure is a private-market expectation, not a number on the books, and a stake in a private company can’t be sold on demand at a chosen price.
The fair judgment is that the buyback has already done its job on the share count, and the risk has shifted to the balance sheet. The operating business supports the debt for now: management expects about $15 billion in free cash flow this year, and second-quarter free cash flow of $1.1 billion rose 81%. But a $42 billion debt load leaves less room if the organic revenue reacceleration promised for the second half stalls.
Three disclosures will settle it. The final share delivery in October shows exactly how much of the company was bought back. The third-quarter long-term investment balance shows whether the Anthropic mark keeps climbing. And an actual sale of Anthropic shares would prove the repayment plan is real rather than a good line from the stage.
Salesforce’s buyback math now leans on an Anthropic sale that hasn’t happened yet. Monitor Salesforce’s long-term investments and debt on TIKR for free →
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
