Salesforce stock soars as Benioff says goal is to be the ‘most profitable software company in the world’

Salesforce Inc. produced better adjusted earnings than expected in the fourth quarter and executives projected big profit gains amid layoffs this year in a Wednesday report, sending shares toward their biggest gain since 2020.

Salesforce CRM reported a fourth-quarter loss of $98 million, or 10 cents a share, on revenue of $8.38 billion, up from $7.33 billion a year ago. After adjusting for stock compensation and other costs, including 84 cents a share in restructuring costs from recent layoffs, the cloud-software company reported…