(Reuters) - Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) will raise prices for some of its cloud and marketing tools by an average 9% from August, the maker of software for customer relations management said, sending its shares up nearly 4% in early trading on Tuesday.
Its first price hike in seven years comes at a time when Salesforce and several other technology companies are increasing their spending to include generative artificial intelligence (AI) to their products and services.
The company has over the past seven years invested more than $20 billion in research and development to add new features, including generative AI tools, to its software.
The price hike also comes as revenues from cloud services that grew at a scorching pace during the pandemic lockdown have started to slow.
Growth at big cloud players such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has come under pressure as enterprise clients look to optimize their cloud spending amid rising cost of borrowing.
The new prices for Tableau, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Industries will cover new and existing customers, Salesforce said.