By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,Steven Tian,Stephen Henriques
Publication Date: 2026-08-27 03:47:00
The apocryphal quip attributed to Mark Twain, “the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated,” rings true for certain companies in the software space amidst widespread but premature fears of AI-driven obsolescence.
Over the last year, approximately $2 trillion in software value has been torched on fears that AI will render many software businesses obsolete in the years ahead, in what has become known as the “SaaSpocalpyse,” prematurely announcing the death of the software as a service (SaaS) sector.
The original SaaSpocalpyse thesis of “death,” or at least massive disruption, was how bears were thinking in the early part of the year, but that bearish thesis has now morphed into a less drastic, but still incorrect, theme of how software companies will have to pay more for customer acquisition moving forward with far less pricing power, compressing margins and hindering profitability.
Just as the classic 1979 Francis Ford Coppola film Apocalypse Now was…