Marc R. Benioff
Summary
Marc R. Benioff is Salesforce’s co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, a role he has held since co-founding the company in 1999, apart from periods with co-CEOs. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/company/marc-benioff-bio/?sfdc-redirect=586&utm_source=openai))
Biography
Benioff co-founded Salesforce in 1999 after spending 13 years at Oracle, where Salesforce says he became the company’s youngest vice president. Before that, he sold software as a teenager and founded Liberty Software, a video-game company. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/company/marc-benioff-bio/?sfdc-redirect=586&utm_source=openai)) As Salesforce’s long-serving leader, Benioff helped build the company around cloud-based customer-relationship-management software and later expanded it through products and acquisitions in integration, analytics and workplace collaboration. Salesforce completed its acquisitions of MuleSoft in 2018, Tableau in 2019 and Slack in 2021. He is also associated with Salesforce’s 1-1-1 philanthropic model and has been active in causes involving education, health care, climate and social equality. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2018/05/02/salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-mulesoft/?utm_source=openai))
Notable achievements
- Co-founded Salesforce in 1999 and helped establish cloud-based CRM as a major enterprise-software category. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/company/marc-benioff-bio/?sfdc-redirect=586&utm_source=openai))
- Expanded Salesforce beyond core CRM through the MuleSoft acquisition, adding application-integration capabilities. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2018/05/02/salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-mulesoft/?utm_source=openai))
- Led the acquisitions of Tableau and Slack, broadening Salesforce’s analytics and workplace-collaboration offerings. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2019/06/10/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-tableau/?bc=OTH&utm_source=openai))
- Promoted the 1-1-1 model, under which Salesforce commits company resources to philanthropy and community programs. ([wired.com](https://www.wired.com/story/gospel-of-wealth-according-to-marc-benioff/?utm_source=openai))
- Helped develop Salesforce’s public profile as a company that combines commercial objectives with corporate activism and philanthropy. ([salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/marc-benioff-san-francisco/?bc=OTH&utm_source=openai))
Problem areas / controversies
- Salesforce announced plans in January 2023 to cut about 10% of its workforce after rapidly expanding during the pandemic; Benioff said the company had hired too aggressively and accepted responsibility. ([cbsnews.com](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salesforce-layoffs-7350-employees-2023/?utm_source=openai))
- The company’s social and political activism has periodically drawn criticism from employees, including over Salesforce software being used by U.S. immigration authorities. ([wired.com](https://www.wired.com/story/gospel-of-wealth-according-to-marc-benioff/?utm_source=openai))
- Salesforce’s pay-equity reviews identified gender-based pay disparities, leading to repeated compensation adjustments, including after acquisitions. ([wired.com](https://www.wired.com/story/how-salesforce-closed-pay-gap-between-men-women/?utm_source=openai))