AI Threatens Salesforce, Adobe & Workday: Tech Stocks Plunge

A sell-off in enterprise software stocks accelerated this week following reports that OpenAI is seeking substantial new investment based on projections of rapidly displacing established business applications. The company, creator of ChatGPT, is pitching a future where AI agents automate tasks currently handled by software from companies like Salesforce, Workday, Adobe, and Atlassian, according to reporting from The Information.

OpenAI is reportedly seeking funding based on revenue forecasts of $30 billion by 2026 and $280 billion by 2030. This ambition has already begun to impact market valuations, with the enterprise software sector having shed over $1 trillion in market capitalization year-to-date, a phenomenon dubbed “SaaSpocalypse” by traders.

The shift is driven by the release of corporate platforms from both OpenAI and Anthropic that enable AI agents to execute workflows with minimal human intervention. The core concept, analysts say, is “seat compression”—reducing the need for individual software licenses as AI handles tasks previously performed by employees.

Atlassian, the Australian software giant, has experienced a particularly sharp decline. Its stock has fallen approximately 39% in 2026 and nearly 78% from its January 2025 peak, reducing its market capitalization from $81 billion to $18 billion. This occurred despite the company reporting its first billion-dollar quarterly revenue from cloud services and a 23% year-over-year growth, according to Bloomberg. Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brooks stated that “AI is one of the best things happening to Atlassian,” a sentiment not shared by investors.

The turbulence extends beyond traditional software companies. Anthropic’s announcement that its Claude Code could automate the modernization of COBOL systems—which still process 95% of U.S. ATM transactions—triggered another market reaction. IBM saw a 13.2% single-day drop in its stock price, the largest since 2000. India’s IT index, Nifty IT, plummeted over 21% in February, its worst monthly performance since the 2008 financial crisis. Companies like TCS, Infosys, and HCL were also affected, prompting Jefferies to downgrade six Indian IT firms, warning of potential further declines of 30-65% in their valuations.

OpenAI has stated it “will not build every AI agent companies need,” a statement that offered some reassurance to companies like Salesforce and Workday. However, the long-term implications of AI-driven automation on the enterprise software market remain uncertain.