What Salesforce's Q4 Says About Tech's Information War

Tech companies, like other U.S. businesses, are pulling out all the stops to respond to the horror of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. As we outlined in this report today, more than a dozen companies are doing everything from helping Ukrainians wage information warfare against Russia to cutting financial ties with the country. Microsoft and others have been embroiled in fighting the cyber battles, as this New York Times report details. 

But of course, business must go on. That creates something of an awkward balancing act for companies, demonstrated on Salesforce’s fourth-quarter earnings report tonight. The enterprise software firm began its analyst conference call with co-CEO Marc Benioff expressing his heartbreak at the war and mentioning his Ukrainian ancestry—before he pivoted to enthuse that Salesforce had enjoyed “the best quarter we've ever had.”