Recasts paragraph 1, adds details from the Business Insider report in paragraph 2, background from paragraph 4 onwards

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Cloud software provider Salesforce CRM.N cut fewer than 1,000 roles at the beginning of this month, Business Insider reported on Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The affected roles included marketing, product management, data analytics and Agentforce AI product, Business Insider said, citing LinkedIn posts and conversations with two employees.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Salesforce did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

The start of the year has seen massive layoffs across U.S. companies as they streamline operations amid rising adoption of artificial intelligence tools.

Tech giant Amazon AMZN.O said in January it was reducing 16,000 roles worldwide in the second major round of job cuts at the company in three months.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had said in a podcast in August last year that the company had cut 4,000 customer support roles, because it needed "less heads," while discussing the impact of artificial intelligence.

In December, the company had raised its fiscal 2026 revenue and adjusted profit forecasts, anticipating growth in its AI agent platform due to strong enterprise demand.

Salesforce is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on February 25.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((rishabh.jaiswal@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9916719147))