‘SaaSpocalypse’ debate intensifies as software stocks swing wildly — SkimNews
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- Bending Spoons agreed to buy Airtable for less than $1.3 billion — a fraction of its nearly $12 billion peak in 2021 — in a deal that crystallized fears AI is hollowing out software valuations.
- HubSpot slid 19% on Wednesday for its worst market day in a decade; Datadog sank 19% on Thursday in its steepest slump since its 2019 IPO and disclosed its biggest AI client (suspected to be OpenAI) has cut usage since June.
- Atlassian surged 35% on Friday — its best day since its 2015 IPO — after reporting its most profitable quarter since 2021, five months after it cut 1,600 jobs to 'self-fund further investment in AI.'
- Salesforce has lost more than 40% of its value since the end of 2024 despite accelerating revenue and consistent margins, as CEO Marc Benioff argues his company won't be 'vibe-coded away' by AI tools.
- The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF fell 24% in Q1 — its worst quarter since 2008 — but has rebounded to down just 3% YTD while the Nasdaq is up 15%.
- 86% of private deal value in H1 2026 went to AI companies with no notable SaaS IPOs this year, per PitchBook; RBC's Rishi Jaluria attributed part of Atlassian's surge to short covering.
Why it matters: Pre-AI-era SaaS startups face a grim exit landscape: 86% of H1 2026 private deal value flowed to AI companies, no notable SaaS IPOs occurred this year, and Airtable — once valued at nearly $12B — just sold for under $1.3B. Public-market SaaS names remain whipsawed by every earnings print.
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