Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff already had a successor in sight. But the entrepreneur does not leave his post.
Benioff’s co-CEO Taylor resigned after a “showdown,” sparking an executive exodus. According to documents viewed by Business Insider, the software company had missed internal sales targets.
Interviews with dozens of current and recent Salesforce executives and employees provide an intimate look at this difficult time and what it meant for Salesforce and its larger-than-life CEO.
By the end of 2021, it looked like Salesforce had achieved what Marc Benioff might call “business nirvana.” Corona had taken the company into the stratosphere as demand for its cloud-based software boomed. Shares were at record levels, and Benioff predicted annual sales would double to $50 billion in five years. He boasted that Salesforce had become the fastest growing software company of all time.
This August, Salesforce brought dozens of executives to Hawaii, an annual tradition where Benioff famously greeted executives in Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops and presented them with $10,000 worth of Cartier watches. Also in attendance was Stewart Butterfield, who had just sold Slack for a whopping $27.7 billion.