Bloomberg Tech Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Salesforce, Figma Decline After Earnings
Date: September 5, 2025
Hosts: Caroline Hyde (New York), Ed Ludlow (San Francisco)
Notable Guests: Anurag Rana (Bloomberg Intelligence), Carol Schleife (BMO Private Wealth), Mark Gurman (Bloomberg), Seth Fiegerman (Bloomberg), Antonio Neri (HP CEO), Catherine Lucey (Bloomberg), Mike Shepherd (Bloomberg), Kate Clark (Bloomberg)

Overview

This episode centers on a turbulent earnings week in the software and broader technology markets, focusing on Salesforce’s and Figma’s post-earnings declines and the larger context of AI’s impact on business. The show digs into investor expectations, AI deployment, antitrust AI search, resilience in hardware companies, changing US policy on chip exports, surging tech startup investments, and the evolving government-tech relationship. Key interviews deliver deep dives into the numbers driving volatility, Apple’s AI plans, HP’s strategies, and the future outlook for the sector as 2025 enters its final months.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Market Reaction to Earnings: Salesforce and Figma

[02:29]

• Salesforce’s Sell Off:

  • Despite historical growth, Salesforce’s tepid top line and AI contribution forecasts disappoint investors.
  • Anurag Rana (Bloomberg Intelligence): “If there are no massive seat growths out there, you’re not going to see revenue accelerate. And I think that’s the story, which is common to most of the software landscape.”
    • AI’s promise hasn’t translated into significant near-term returns.
    • Discretionary IT spending remains sluggish post-pandemic.
  • Workday and comparable software firms face similar pressure.

• Figma’s First Post-IPO Earnings:

  • Figma’s stock tumbles after meeting expectations but failing to wow or materially outperform.
  • Anurag Rana: “In an IPO landscape it doesn’t work like that. The first few quarters you really need to showcase an improvement in fundamentals.” [04:14]

2. Broader Software Sector Trends & Investor Mindset

[05:05]

• Carol Schleife (BMO Private Wealth):

  • Software remains a long-term winner, but investor impatience prevails:
    • “Investors are very black and white—they want to see instantaneous results. But all of this takes some time to filter through.”
  • Incumbent giants have the cash flow to buy up innovative smaller firms (“whales and krill” scenario).
  • She stresses importance of diversification and managing concentration risk (e.g. "Mag 7" tech stocks):
    • “One of the ways that we deal with that is barbelling portfolios and really leaning into that diversification... because there is concentration risk.” [08:48]

• Hardware vs. Software Dynamics:

  • Broadcom (hardware) up 30% YTD, Salesforce (software) down 30% YTD; infrastructure build-out is still not finished but faces long timelines and local resistance.

3. Apple’s AI Ambitions and Partnership Strategies

[14:25]

• Apple’s Overhauled Siri and AI Search:
  • Mark Gurman of Bloomberg breaks major news:
    • In March, Apple will launch an AI-powered web search tool integrated with Siri, moving beyond simple assistant tasks to answer engine-style capabilities.
    • Apple is negotiating AI model partnerships, with Google’s Gemini the leading candidate after formal evaluations, despite also speaking to OpenAI and Anthropic.
    • Anthropic’s steep pricing ($1.5bn/year escalating) makes Google more attractive for Apple; Apple prefers to maintain leverage.
    • Apple’s next iOS (26.4) will feature revamped Siri, AI personal data queries, and voice navigation.
  • Quote [16:35]: “What’s coming in March is this search product. I mentioned the ability to tap into personal data to fulfill queries...” —Mark Gurman
  • Apple’s monetization and search partnership with Google ($20B+ per year) is being reconsidered as user habits shift away from Google Search toward generative AI platforms.

4. Agentic AI Competition: DeepSeek

[19:22]

• DeepSeek (China):
  • Developing more advanced “agentic AI”—aiming to go beyond chatbots and perform multi-step complex tasks; continues to be China’s most popular chatbot.
  • Faces competition from fast-innovating Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent.

5. Venture Trends and Tech Startup Valuations

[21:37; 22:41; 23:46]

• Rednote:
  • Social media firm hit $31B valuation, dubbed a viable TikTok competitor.
• Revolut:
  • Remains private, offers secondary share sale at a $75B valuation.
  • Tom Metcalfe (Bloomberg): “It’s the age-old story—you get a little more flexibility as a private company and can put off the tricky task of keeping those investors happy, your employees happy as well.”
• Mistral (France):
  • Raising funds at a $14B valuation, seen as Europe's answer to OpenAI. Open source focus and potential local favoritism in Europe are its niche.

6. HP’s Performance and AI Strategy

[25:31]

• CEO Antonio Neri Interview:
  • HP reports record Q3 performance; server business returning to historical operating margin (~10%) through a balanced approach targeting sovereign, enterprise, and service providers.
  • Acquisition of Juniper signals shift to networking-centric company to support the next phase of cloud and AI build-outs.
  • Shift from generative AI to “agentic AI” for business process automation internally and in products.
    • “Agentic AI will transform business processes by simplifying them, automating them, and bringing intelligence to it.” [34:42]
  • Cost synergies from Juniper deal anticipated ($600M+).
  • Strong partnership with Nvidia continues, co-engineering products like the RTX 6000 Pro and networking for future AI data centers.

7. US Policy Shifts: Chip Export Restrictions

[43:17]

• End to “blanket waivers” for Samsung, SK Hynix, TSMC on China operations; intensifies tech/trade tensions and forces new negotiations.
  • Mike Shepherd (Bloomberg): “This ends the so-called blanket waiver that had allowed the companies... to avoid becoming collateral damage in the US effort to rein in China’s AI ambitions.”

8. White House and Tech: Rose Garden AI Event

[41:09]

• President Trump, First Lady host high-profile AI event with CEOs (Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, more) at the White House to discuss AI, especially its impact on children and education.
  • Administration remains active in courting Silicon Valley leaders while pushing for domestic tech investment and production.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If there are no massive seat growths out there, you’re not going to see revenue accelerate. And I think that’s the story, which is, you know, I think common to most of the software landscape…”
  — Anurag Rana (03:22)

• “Investors are very black and white, they want to see instantaneous results. But all of this stuff takes some time to filter through and figure out how we’re going to deploy it."
  — Carol Schleife (05:05)

• “It’s almost like a whales and krill kind of scenario… the largest companies are buying up the smaller companies in the competition."
  — Carol Schleife (06:16)

• "So now Apple will be launching their own answer engine... as part of an update called iOS 26.4.”
  — Mark Gurman (14:50)

• “Agentic AI will transform business processes by simplifying them, automating them, and then bring intelligence to it."
  — Antonio Neri (34:42)

• “...they see this as a question of leveling the playing field, not just with China, but with companies from South Korea and Taiwan.”
  — Mike Shepherd (44:48)

Timestamps to Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------| | 01:41 | Show opens—Salesforce, Figma earnings context | | 02:29 | Salesforce & Figma analysis w/ Anurag Rana | | 05:05 | Broader software outlook w/ Carol Schleife | | 08:30 | Concentration risk & investor strategy | | 09:44 | Hardware vs software, build-out discussion | | 10:39 | 2025 tech sector outlook & predictions | | 14:25 | Apple AI web search system w/ Mark Gurman | | 19:22 | DeepSeek's agentic AI push (China, global) | | 21:37 | Tech startup valuation news: Rednote, SK Hynix, etc. | | 22:41 | Revolut's secondary sale & valuation insights | | 25:31 | HP earnings/interview with CEO Antonio Neri | | 34:42 | HP’s “agentic AI” focus & company-wide adoption | | 41:09 | Presidential Rose Garden AI summit | | 43:17 | US ends chip waivers: implications for Asia/Allies | | 45:55 | Mistral’s $14B raise, Europe’s OpenAI |

Conclusion

This episode captures the tension between sky-high tech valuations and the gap between AI promise and near-term results in the business world. It underscores the sector’s volatility, the emerging hardware-software divide, the impact of global politics on tech, and the relentless investor enthusiasm for anything AI. Leaders emphasize patience, diversification, and preparedness for continuing transformation as AI, agentic platforms, and global policy changes steer tech into late 2025.