Bret Taylor steps down as co-CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff stays on as CEO

Salesforce mentioned Wednesday that Bret Taylor, the enterprise software program maker’s vice-chair and co-CEO, will step down on Jan. 31, 2023, leaving Marc Benioff, its co-founder and different co-CEO, to be the only individual in control of the corporate.

It is a shock on condition that Benioff had intently embraced Taylor as a youthful know-how chief. Taylor performed a key function in Salesforce’s bid to accumulate Slack, its largest transaction thus far. Many onlookers noticed Taylor as the one who may at some point take over for Benioff as the pinnacle of Salesforce.

The announcement comes virtually three years after Keith Block, an Oracle government, left as co-CEO of the corporate. In February 2020, Keith Block departed as co-CEO. Block had been the corporate’s working chief earlier than being promoted in 2018.

“I’m grateful for six incredible years at Salesforce,” Taylor mentioned in a press release. “Marc was my mentor nicely earlier than I joined Salesforce and the chance to companion with him to steer an important software program firm on this planet is career-defining. After a variety of reflection, I’ve determined to return to my entrepreneurial roots. Salesforce has by no means been extra related to prospects, and with its best-in-class administration staff and the corporate executing on all cylinders, now could be the appropriate time for me to step away.”

Taylor joined Salesforce by the corporate’s acquisition of Taylor’s productiveness software program startup Quip in 2016.

It has been a busy 12 months for Taylor, as he was chairman of Twitter heading into Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social networking firm, a deal accomplished final month.

Benioff advised CNBC that he preferred the thought of getting somebody share the CEO function so they might have a “divide and conquer technique” and so he may spend time investing, doing philanthropy and mentoring different enterprise leaders.

— CNBC’s Ari Levy contributed to this report.

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