Adecco: Joint venture with salesforce could mitigate AI bubble risks
Adecco’s CEO Denis Machuel said on Wednesday that the company’s joint venture with Salesforce, named r.Potential, could help reduce risks of an AI bubble by encouraging companies to focus on practical applications of the technology.
The Swiss staffing firm has already engaged with 300 large clients interested in the platform, which aims to guide businesses in integrating AI into their core operations, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Machuel noted a current disconnect between the abundance of AI solutions and how enterprises embed them in their workflows, with some market valuations “quite high.”
“AI, at some point, will need to deliver concrete outcomes,” Machuel said, emphasizing r.Potential’s role in providing structured guidance and reducing speculative risks. While he acknowledged the problem of AI “hallucinations,” he said further model training could minimize such errors.
Adecco plans to prioritize AI and its digital platform in its upcoming strategy. The company’s shares fell more than 7% on Wednesday, reflecting investor concerns about AI’s impact on its business and the potential risk of a dividend cut to meet its target debt ratio. Adecco aims for net debt at or below 1.5 times core earnings (EBITDA) by 2027.
The company also reaffirmed long-term guidance: an EBITA margin of 3–6% across the group, with an updated margin target of 8–11% for its career development segment LHH, and confirmed prior ranges of 3–6% for the core business and 7–10% for digital engineering unit Akkodis.
Similar news
