Professions. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. “Or do I go, like, the Trump?” — shifting to the edge of his seat in the manner of the current president of the United States. Benioff has also become a yearly fixture at the elite business-and-celeb confab in Davos, Switzerland, including an appearance last year where he called out Uber as an example of tech companies that sacrifice the trust of their employees and users at the altar of growth. But Benioff made no disclosed political contributions dating back to June of last year except for donations to Salesforce’s PAC, his longest stretch of political inactivity since mid-2014, according to a review of federal records. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee and one of the tech industry’s most outspoken critics on Capitol Hill, called Benioff’s pitch for federal privacy legislation “spot on.”, Jim Steyer, CEO of the nonprofit Common Sense Media — which co-runs a “Truth About Tech” campaign to warn of the dangers of social media — says, “This is the time when, on the impact of tech on society, we’re asking, ‘Which side are you on,’ and Marc is on the correct side.” (Benioff has helped fund Steyer’s group. The cyberattack has caused temporary price increases and shortages in some affected states. Benioff, though, is on a roll. Asked about the relationship with Customs, Benioff says little beyond noting that “they are a Salesforce customer.”. This week while promoting his new book, Trailblazer, Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff went on a bit of a rampage. At 31, with all the success Benioff had, he felt lost. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Take equal pay. Tech billionaire Marc Benioff used to give millions to politicians. Benioff is willing to chip more than just cash and time into nailing that purpose. Benioff’s politics are winning him an intriguing collection of admirers, including Ed Norton, the actor and tech investor who, completely unprompted, praised Benioff on a recent podcast. He adds, “I view myself very much just as an American” — one committed to using whatever platform he can to imprint the social-justice values that have, for two decades, powered Salesforce to enormous success. Other tech CEOs, like Facebook’s Zuckerberg, appear to shrink in the political spotlight. The measure, Proposition C, eventually passed, to Benioff’s delight. On Nov. 21, the onetime Republican interviewed former President Barack Obama on stage in San Francisco, where Benioff’s company lured an estimated 170,000-plus people to a four-day conference that shut down streets in part of the city. Capitalism, argues Benioff, should hurt capitalists a bit. Benioff, 55, settles his hulking frame into his modernist leather chair while splaying his paw-like hands wide. They … Last year, about 650 of Salesforce’s own employees asked Benioff to “re-examine” a contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Sabbatical. Would Have Liked to … "Business is the best platform for change. Others say that as the fourth generation of his family to grow up in San Francisco, he’s become angry over what he’s witnessed the tech industry do to his city. | AP Photo. He says he’s more at home in Hawaii, where he has an estate. The interview was conducted by Recode co-founder Kara Swisher and covered a wide range of topics, from the passage of Proposition C in San Francisco (Benioff was a … But to hear him tell it, Benioff is still a stranger in the buttoned-down nation’s capital, with no political aspirations beyond trying to make the world a more equitable place. Asked if religion is motivating him, he responds: “No, this is just modern values. Career. Or homelessness. “I never know how to sit in these chairs,” he interjects, as Rubenstein attempts to lay out Benioff’s bona fides as the multibillionaire founder and co-CEO of the business software giant Salesforce. Originally a Republican, he served as co-Chair of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee for George W. Bush, but hosted Barack Obama on the election trail at the Salesforce offices. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today from as little as $3. Benioff threatened to pull business from the state, and former Gov. As of 2018, Benioff owns Timemagazine. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Wednesday encouraged employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19. “Whatever makes you feel most comfortable,” responds Rubenstein, a fellow billionaire left looking, for a moment, as if he’s watching a suit-wearing bear attempt to nail a graceful seated position. Recode has learned the founder of Salesforce is no longer making political contributions to candidates, fundraising for candidates, or endorsing candidates. Benioff is swearing off future political donations, in stark contrast to the rest of Silicon Valley. Plenty of tech executives talk about making the world a better place; few throw their whole bodies into it. Sheryl Sandberg and Marc Benioff, two of the tech world’s biggest names, signed on with a coalition of corporate leaders who are pushing to abolish capital punishment globally. That’s what I’m trying to do.”. For Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the fight was personal. Back in 2015, in the early days of the debate over gender differences in Silicon Valley compensation, Benioff ordered a review of Salesforce salaries. Facebook will push you to read articles before you share them, The company says it wants to promote "more informed sharing. Concerns about features like Autopilot aren’t going unnoticed in Washington. I personally held a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but I had no problem coming to the Donald Trump White House in my capacity as a business leader to talk about workforce development and technology training programs. “From Day One he’s recognized that business has a broader purpose,” says Steve Case, the AOL co-founder turned East Coast venture capitalist who has known Benioff for decades. More than 40 preeminent business figures have declared their opposition to capital punishment and joined the Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty campaign. That, says Khanna, has made Benioff an “iconoclast” among the billionaire class. He railed against Facebook (“ the new cigarettes ”), Section 230 (“ we need to abolish ”), and the public sector (“ As governments fiddle, there are … Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. - Marc Benioff . Then he bought Time magazine. But Benioff is taking a step away from partisan politics at a moment when other tech leaders are rushing toward it. Business always has had and always will have an impact on communities at large, and Marc Benioff is among the executives who are conscious of this. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The industry would eventually rally for national legislation of the sort Benioff was pushing — in large part to defang the California law. I'm an American and I always support candidates I think are great for the country." (CNBC accused him of delivering a “tirade” after he criticized Uber’s corporate leadership last year in Davos.). But in an interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow Wednesday he went one … He was included in the ZDNet's 2017 list of "21 other CEOs we'd like to see run for president". Salesforce has since its founding given 1 percent of its products, equity, and employee time to philanthropy. Benioff shot back a sassy note — “Hi Jack. Just 3.4% of Salesforce's 49,000 workers identify as Black. It’s “very impressive [for] a major corporate leader to be in the world saying, ‘We cannot have capitalism that continues to be defined by shareholder value,'” the “Motherless Brooklyn” filmmaker said of Benioff. Home; Authors; Topics; Quote Of The Day; Site. “I’ve given advice to both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ; When Marc was in school, he sold ‘How to Juggle,’ (his first application) for $75. Other tech leaders opposed the ballot measure, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who said he worried it would hurt innovation and noted that prominent local leaders didn’t back the plan. “I no longer make political positions or funding since buying Time Magazine.”. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Benioff seems to expand — fedora-wearing, 6-foot-5, human, sometimes a little sweaty around the margins. By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. Benioff’s politics are winning him an intriguing collection of admirers, including Ed Norton, the actor and tech investor who, completely unprompted, praised Benioff on a recent podcast. “We’re working to move the world towards our position,” says Benioff. “I feel like when I go to Washington, D.C., it’s like going to another planet,” he says by phone in the days leading up to the trip. “I had always thought I was more progressive on gender equality than most male technology executives,” Benioff writes in his new business-tome-slash-memoir "Trailblazer." To hear him tell it, as a young, disillusioned Oracle executive on an obligatory trip to an Indian ashram, he came to see that success in the business world was worthwhile only if married to improving the world, and he’s since dedicated his enormous fortune — some $6.9 billion by one recent count — to proving the point. And, you know, I’m trying to improve the world using my platform. “Do I do like his?” he says, leaning back. Or online privacy. The Close Digital Full Show (04/09/2021) 10:00. Formerly a registered Republican, Benioff is now unaffiliated with either party. Mike Pence relented, arguing that the statute was misunderstood. Home. He made the comments a week after Facebook's Oversight Board, which was created to review its moderation decisions, ruled … It was January 2017 and tech billionaire Marc Benioff was in his element. Benioff’s shining light on policy debates “changes the conversation and puts a little wind in the sails of people who are fighting every day for these things, but don’t nearly have the power or platform that he does,” says Catherine Bracy, executive director of the advocacy group TechEquity Collaborative, which is attempting to rally tech workers to address the Bay Area’s economic woes. Or in his native San Francisco, where his 61-story Salesforce Tower looms over the city’s horizon, the second-tallest building west of the Mississippi. It’s a stark departure from Benioff’s storied past as a political animal who has given millions to campaigns and picked bruising fights with other tech leaders over tax evasion and corporate power. Topics. Which homeless programs in our city are you supporting?” — and was on the winning side when the measure passed. For Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the fight was personal. And one way to get there, he argues, is for corporations to do right by not just their shareholders but their customers, their employees and the whole planet. (Donations to Democratic presidential candidates Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Jay Inslee, as well as House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, made it in under the wire.). Marc Benioff, the billionaire who has emerged as a spokesperson for a more liberal and civically active Silicon Valley, is stepping away from partisan politics. Not only is Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff predicting artificial intelligence will soon help run everyone's companies — he's already using it to run Salesforce. In 2018, Benioff argued publicly with another tech titan, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, over a tax proposition that would fund new anti-homelessness spending in San Francisco, where Salesforce and Twitter are both headquartered. Over the years, he has turned more liberal in his political giving — in 2016 he hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton — but he continued to make donations to some Republicans, such as Kevin McCarthy just last May. newsletter, Make a financial contribution today to help keep Vox free for all, take an appointment in the George W. Bush administration, $500,000 contribution to a gun-control group in 2013, conniption at Bloomberg News as its owner, Mike Bloomberg, runs for president, cancel the company’s contract with Customs and Border Protection, Please consider making a contribution to Vox today from as little as $3, 2020 election: announcements, news, and updates, Sen. Kelly Loeffler has tested positive for the coronavirus, The prospects for Democrats’ major voting rights bill look grim in the Senate, Liz Cheney’s honesty about the 2020 election just got her ousted from House GOP leadership, The Big Lie is the GOP’s one and only truth, As McConnell gears up for obstruction, 43 percent of Republican voters say they prefer bipartisanship. Marc Benioff: CEOs need to ask themselves one question 05:05 "I get that question every time I do an interview for the past five years," Benioff said. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Although Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff has been a big, visible supporter of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi, he says he's not a Democrat. Benioff has had his vision for a new kind of capitalism for decades — he’s been tech’s “woke” CEO since before “woke” was a thing. Benioff has publicly championed Salesforce's diversity efforts, but employees say otherwise. Benioff said he had “stopped everything” revolving around candidates — something that he says he’s been explaining recently to the many political aspirants who have been coming to him seeking support. There is one exception, however, to Benioff’s new vow of political neutrality: The garrulous Salesforce founder said he would continue to weigh in on ballot measures related to homelessness, an issue close to Benioff’s heart. “Now I was about to get the chance to prove it.” He spent $6 million to close the gap it found. At 15, he founded a Software, ‘Liberty Software,’ which created games like King Arthur’s Heir, The Nightmare, Escape from Vulcan’s Isle, and Crypt of the Undead for the Atari 8-bit computer. Benioff says he’s hardly a politician, and won’t become one, but that he frequently has reason to mix it up with the likes of them. Thanks for the feedback. 45:38 'Bloomberg Technology' Full Show (04/09/2021) 01:51:21. The notoriously left-wing CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, stood in stunned silence when confronted with a question about the company’s lack of policy on political tolerance and viewpoint discrimination at the company’s annual investor meeting. This is taking care of stakeholders, and doing it right. The short version of Benioff’s modern values: People should have a place to live, a good education in a safe school, good health care and a clean environment, and not face discrimination for their sexual orientation or gender. With the Time deal, that seems as unlikely as ever. In the spring of 2018, Benioff began praising California’s move to adopt a law reining in companies’ use of data, then turned around and called, in the pages of POLITICO, for Silicon Valley to get behind a drive for a federal privacy bill. "I think it's important for everyone to get … But nine seconds into his on-stage introduction, Benioff has thoughts he’d like to share. Originally a self-described Republican who gave his very first check to Steve Forbes during Forbes’s quixotic run for the GOP nomination in 1996, Benioff went on to take an appointment in the George W. Bush administration. And he himself has long been dogged by speculation that he would want to run for San Francisco mayor someday. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. The second management lesson was learning from Marc Benioff specifically: He was so good at painting the long-term vision that seemed a little grandiose and crazy, but had a way of catalyzing people toward it. It’s not unreasonable for media owners to try to avoid taking partisan political stances so as not to jeopardize their publication’s objectivity. Marc Benioff, the billionaire who has emerged as a spokesperson for a more liberal and civically active Silicon Valley, is stepping away from partisan politics. (In his new book, he likens himself to a "giant.") He asked Ellison for some time … It is scheduled for Thursday. Quote Of The Day. Salesforce.com Inc. Chief Executive Marc Benioff has thoughts on how to reinvigorate the software company’s workplace culture in the post-pandemic era, and it involves the great outdoors and possibly a ranch.Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival on Tuesday, Mr. Benioff said that following Covid-19, business leaders… Last year, Benioff poured millions of his and Salesforce’s money into a fight to tax San Francisco’s biggest companies to fund programs for the homeless. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff hasn't been sparing with his criticism of Facebook. In a resignation letter posted to LinkedIn earlier this month, Cynthia Perry wrote a searing take-down of the company's racial equality efforts, specifically the treatment of Black employees. Recode has learned the … He has put together … Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from Silicon Valley who has received Benioff’s backing, describes him as the rare tech executive who sees his worldly success not simply as the product his own creativity but of a system that deemed him a winner while leaving scores of other behind. Top 100 Quotes. This, even though he once held a tech advisory post in the George W. Bush administration and co-owns Time magazine with his wife, Lynne. Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism? Recode has learned the founder of Salesforce is no longer making political contributions to candidates, fundraising for candidates, or endorsing candidates. Pence pushed through changes to blunt the law’s impact. Some Lesser Known Facts About Marc Benioff. ", Sign up for the It has also made him the target of quiet ire in the tech industry, often organized along the lines of, well, it’s easy for Marc Benioff to say. Marc was born on September 25, 1964, in a Jewish Family. Benioff, if anything, has taken the opposite tack: He has fostered an at-times warm relationship with the Trump administration — convincing the president to sign off, for instance, on a new tree-planting initiative — and resisting calls from Salesforce employees to cancel the company’s contract with Customs and Border Protection since the agency helps implement the Trump administration’s immigration policy. It can put reporters in a bind — one need look no further than the conniption at Bloomberg News as its owner, Mike Bloomberg, runs for president. News Politics World Sport Technology Business Money Opinion Obituaries … Previously, Benioff served as the senior vice president of Oracle Corporation. The mid-October appearance was some Washingtonians’ first introduction to Benioff, a man who’s taking up space on a lot of stages these days. Technology news from Washington and Silicon Valley — weekday mornings, in your inbox. According to Forbes, Benioff is worth $4.1 billion.. Salesforce founder Marc Benioff wants to break up Facebook, has pushed for higher taxes on his industry and says capitalism ‘as we know it’ is over. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report contained incorrect information provided by Salesforce about former President Barack Obama's appearance at the company's conference in San Francisco. "My approach to politics is that I'm not a..." - Marc Benioff quotes from BrainyQuote.com "My approach to politics is that I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. Business Insider - Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called out Facebook over the company's decision to delegate a significant content moderation issue to its "Supreme Court" of independent reviewers. It should cost something. He’s a politically skilled chief executive in an industry whose leaders often appear diffident and tone-deaf during their forays to Congress or the White House. Coming from Marc Benioff, it sounds like a perfectly happy place to be. Benioff engages in a substantial amount of advocacy-philanthropic giving, and he has espoused numerous left-of-center political views opposing capitalism, favoring strict gun control, defending liberal-left approaches to homelessness, and supporting liberal expansionist immigration policy. After a summer vacation, Benioff made the surprising decision to elevate Keith Block to co-CEO, enabling a “divide and conquer strategy” and giving Benioff time to do the things he enjoys. This story is part of a group of stories called, Tesla is casting a spotlight on the government’s struggle to keep up with self-driving cars. For his part, Benioff’s own political leanings have been increasingly bi-partisan over the years. Says Steyer, “I don’t shill for anyone.”). Millions turn to Vox to understand what’s happening in the news. ‘It’s not exactly political activism, but it is action on issues beyond business.’” I don’t call this social or political activism. (Other ballot initiatives, Benioff said, he would personally stay out of.). “Leading with those values.”. Politics. Silicon Valley has been awakened by a new spirit of activism to protest the Trump administration, and some tech billionaires have sought to channel their money and energy toward new political projects to remove Trump from office in 2020. “ Do I Do like his? ” he says marc benioff politics leaning back,. A contribution to Vox today from as little as $ 3 other tracking technologies CNBC... Ballot initiatives, Benioff has publicly championed Salesforce 's diversity efforts, but say... ; Topics ; Quote of the Day ; Site noting that “ they are Salesforce. Side when the measure passed to move the world using my platform now I was appreciative! Service apply 25, 1964, in your inbox tirade ” after he criticized Uber ’ s political... 21 other CEOs we 'd like to share and he himself has long been dogged by speculation that would! Updates from POLITICO and you can contact us here 2016 presidential election 1964! Autopilot aren ’ t come with party affiliations. ” equity, and Gov... ” tries Rubenstein by signing up you agree to our Use of cookies and other technologies..., or endorsing candidates Salesforce.com, a Democratic congressman from Silicon Valley who has received Benioff ’ s own leanings. Tirade ” after he criticized Uber ’ s corporate leadership last year in Davos )! Political leanings have been increasingly bi-partisan over the years news from Washington and Silicon Valley a customer relationship service. In some affected States in school, he would personally stay out of..! Mayor someday m doing every Day, ” Benioff says little beyond noting that “ are! 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