Nat Versus the Volcano: Can an AI Investor Solve an Ancient Mystery from the Ashes of Vesuvius?Read more

At Salesforce, a CEO Shift from Benioff to Taylor Draws Near


Salesforce’s Bret Taylor has told confidantes he expects to be named CEO of the company, replacing its iconic founder, Marc Benioff, who has spent two decades in that role. Will such a change help Salesforce remake its reputation for putting sales and marketing above product development?

Salesforce's Bret Taylor (left) and Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan
Salesforce's Bret Taylor (left) and Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan
Oct. 7, 2021 6:01 AM PDT

What will Salesforce look like when its co-founder and CEO, Marc Benioff, finally passes the baton to someone else?

The tech industry may get to find out sooner rather than later. In recent months, the company’s No. 2 executive, Bret Taylor, has confided to people close to him that he expects to be promoted to CEO of Salesforce soon, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. That promotion, if it happens, would represent the most significant leadership change in the company’s history. Benioff has led Salesforce for the past 20 years, transforming it into a cloud software giant with a market value of nearly $270 billion.

The changing of the guard at Salesforce could bring significant changes. Benioff is credited with turning Salesforce into a sales and marketing machine, known for extravagant events like its annual Dreamforce customer conference in San Francisco with accompanying concerts by Metallica and other bands.

Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
OpenAI's Greg Brockman (left) and Google's Demis Hassabis (right). Photos by Getty.
AI Agenda google ai
OpenAI Hustles to Beat Google to Launch ‘Multimodal’ LLM
As fall approaches, Google and OpenAI are locked in a good ol’ fashioned software race, aiming to launch the next generation of large-language models: multimodal.
From left, a Google TPU, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photos via Getty, Google and YouTube.
Exclusive google semiconductors
To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip Supplier
Google executives have extensively discussed dropping Broadcom as a supplier of artificial intelligence chips as early as 2027, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
Flexport founder Ryan Petersen. Photos via Getty and Flexport.
e-commerce
Can Ryan Petersen Fix Flexport?
Ryan Petersen was getting antsy. This March, Petersen had handed over the CEO job at Flexport—the logistics company he’d founded a decade earlier, which had ballooned to an $8 billion valuation in 2022—to veteran Amazon executive Dave Clark.
Photo via Midjourney.
AI Agenda startups ai
The Rise of Startups That Help Other Startups Evaluate LLMs
All but a handful of artificial intelligence startups typically fall into one of two camps. The first group uses a single large-language model, typically OpenAI’s GPT-4, to power their applications.
Photos via Eiso Kant (left) and YouTube/VMWare Tanzu (right)
AI Agenda startups ai
How GitHub Copilot’s Co-Creator Raised $126 Million to Compete with His Former Employer
Recent interest in artificial intelligence has focused on large-language models that aim to do everything from writing Shakespearean poetry to solving math riddles.
Art by Mike Sullivan
entertainment media/telecom
Disney-Charter Deal Could Prompt More Cable TV-Streaming Bundles
Last week, Charter Communications, the No. 2 cable provider, and Walt Disney Co. cut a deal to include Disney streaming services, such as Disney+ and a new ESPN service still in the works, with Charter’s cable television packages.