• by Ray Schultz , August 25, 2022

Salesforce has reported Q2 revenue of $7.7 billion, up 22% YoY, for its 2023 fiscal year.  

“We had a great quarter, but yet again, the dollar had an even stronger quarter and we continue to see the impact on foreign exchange and currency fluctuation on our financials,” chairman and co-CEO Marc Benioff said during an investor call on Wednesday.

Benioff added that the firm saw “approximately $250 million of headwind to revenue" -- which he said is roughly $50 million more than the company assumed in its guidance last quarter -- adding: "we now expect a total of $800 million foreign exchange headwind year-over-year for the full fiscal year.”

Operating margin rose by 19.9% in Q2 to 2.5% and the firm saw $334 million in operating cash flow. 

Of Q2 subscription and support contributed $7.14 billion to the Q2 total and professional services and other revenues 0.58 billion. 

The company forecasts $7.82 billion to $7.83 billion for Q3 -- a 14% decline -- and $30.9 billion to $31 billion for the fiscal year -- a 17% falloff. 

The revised forecast is based on the fact that “we see customers becoming more measured in the way they buy,” Benioff said. “Sales cycles can get stretched. Deals are inspected by higher levels of management, and all of this, we began to start to see in July."

Benioff added, “Nearly everyone I've talked to is taking a more measured approach to their business. We expect these trends to continue in the near term and we reflected this in our guidance."

In another development, the Salesforce board has authorized "up to $10 billion in our first-ever share repurchase,” Benioff said.