DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Big-name investors are betting AI gadgets could change the way we interact with tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. What's on deck:This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. The big storyAI (literally) in your pocketTech workers are criticizing Humane's hotly anticipated Ai pin. AdvertisementIn fact, heavy hitters like legendary investor Vinod Khosla believe that AI devices will completely change how we interact with technology. Humane's Ai Pin, which can project text onto users' hands and translate voice messages, didn't get a warm welcome when it launched late last year .

Persons: —, Oompa, I've, Willy Wonka, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Humane's, Vinod Khosla, Samantha Stokes, Vishal Persaud, Khosla, Ai, didn't, Tim Cook, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Franck Robichon, Paul Krugman, shouldn't, we're, Wells, Bank of America's Merrill, Bitcoin, Tyler Le, maven, Alexei Navalny's, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb, George Glover Organizations: Service, Business, Humane, Khosla Ventures, Rabbit, Bank of America's, Wall, The New York Times, WW, SEC Locations: Franck, Wells Fargo, New York, London

☆ Chaos at OpenAI ensues
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

In today's big story, we're looking at the continued fallout from the shocking Sam Altman ouster at OpenAI. Altman is alive and well, but his run as CEO of OpenAI ended abruptly on Friday. But in the days since his firing, he's escaped a messy weekend looking like the ultimate hero, Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos writes. To be fair, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Emmett Shear don't seem to know why either. Meanwhile, Salesforce's Marc Benioff is already actively recruiting OpenAI employees on X.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, he's, Katie Notopoulos, Altman isn't, Ilya Sutskever —, Sutskever, Kali Hays, Satya Nadella, Emmett Shear, Satya Nadella Stephen Brashear, Julie Bort, Microsoft's Nadella, Nadella, that's, Madeline Renbarger, That's, It's, Kali, Ashley Stewart, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Scott Olson, Bridgewater's, Greg Jensen, Jim Chanos, Elon, New York Jefferson Siegel, Nvidia's, Jensen Huang, execs, Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Arantza Pena Popo, Camila Téllez, Melkorka, Téllez, Carly Rae Jepsen, Björk, Colleen Ballinger, Clinton, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Getty, BlackRock, Reuters, Nvidia, Elon, HP, Nordstrom, Clinton Lee Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley, Bridgewater, New York, Texas, Millennials, New York City, San Diego, London

☆ Billionaires and corporate execs have dumped $9 billion worth of stock this year amid the market's latest rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Billionaires and CEOs have dumped $9 billion in stock this year. Many of those sales have been concentrated in the tech sector amid Wall Street's frenzy over AI. Executives have cashed in on the rally as the S&P 500 recovers from a dismal 2022 performance. Meanwhile, AirBnB co-founder Joe Gebbia sold off $893 million of his company's stock during the first half. Oracle CEO Safra Catz also trimmed her holdings of the company, selling $470 million worth of the company's stock.

Persons: Walton, AirBnB, Joe Gebbia, Larry Ellison, Safra Catz, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Stephane Bancel, Josh Harris Organizations: Service, CNBC, Walmart, Sam's, Oracle, Moderna, Apollo, Vanda Research Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple Vision Pro, Big Tech's big AI salaries, and Marc Andreessen's plan to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple Vision Pro. Apple's Vision Pro looks amazing, but why buy it? The Vision Pro also comes with a host of caveats beyond the price tag, such as a battery life of just two hours. Read more about the Apple Vision Pro's limits here. He said AI companies should be able to build fast and aggressively — and without regulation.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, let's, Tony Fadell, Apple, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Justin Sullivan, Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen, Travis Kalanick's, Adam Beswick, he's, grads, Z, Leigh Thompson, Jack Sommers Organizations: Apple Vision, Apple, Companies, Meta, Sony, Getty, Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, Big Tech, CloudKitchens, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Sequoia Capital, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Locations: London

☆ Benioff vs. Benioff
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

Within Salesforce, Benioff riffs are at times met with backlash from an angry workforce. "You're not going to fire your family during times of need," a former Salesforce executive told Insider. "I don't think they understand Ohana," Benioff told Insider. "Look, we have to be the example of stakeholder capitalism," Benioff told Insider. A 'New Day' at Salesforce"I use the Japanese principle of shoshin, beginner's mind," Benioff told Insider in a phone interview in March.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff says tech CEOs everywhere might soon unleash their inner Elons
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: Insider's Rebecca Knight is a Gen X working mom who tried TikTok's "Bare Minimum Monday" trend. Insider's Rebecca Knight studies TikTok to learn how to do Bare Minimum Monday. Sarah MackenzieWhen I first heard about "Bare Minimum Monday," the latest TikTok trend to emerge in the workplace, I thought it was nonsense, Insider's Rebecca Knight writes. But when my editor suggested I give Bare Minimum Monday a try and then write about it, I leapt at the opportunity. Key takeaways from Goldman's investor day.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff says he's following 'the Oracle playbook' to improve profits — and Larry Ellison is helping him
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Marc Benioff said he was adopting Oracle's playbook and being mentored by Larry Ellison as he focuses on profitability. But on Wednesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff admitted that he was adopting Oracle's playbook and being tutored on it by Oracle's founder and chairman Larry Ellison. Benioff started his career at Oracle at age 23, and Ellison made him into a star executive by age 26. The drama started when Oracle started working on a product that competed with Salesforce, eventually leading Benioff to kick Ellison off his board. And now Benioff is publicly thanking Ellison and his Oracle playbook as Salesforce fends off no fewer than five activist investors, all pressuring the company to improve profitability.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff has revised a plan to stack rank a bottom 5% and ordered employees back to the office, according to leaked messages
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has made revisions to the company's annual strategic plan, including return-to-office mandates and policies that would have implemented stack ranking, according to an internal Slack message viewed by Insider. "He's still pushing performance culture," a Salesforce employee who read the revised draft told Insider. It currently requires three days a week in the office for non-remote employees and four days a week for employees in "non-remote" and "customer-facing" roles. Revenue for fiscal 2022 grew 25%, to $26.5 billion, according to the company's annual report. Or, as an employee previously posted in a Slack channel, "Can execs commit to never referring to Salesforce employees as 'family' again?

☆ There's a brutal culling going on in the tech industry — here are the recent layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

We're barely three weeks into the new year — and tens of thousands of tech employees are already staring down the barrel of unemployment. In today's special edition, we're taking a look at Insider's recent coverage of the brutal wipeout — bringing you inside the chaos at these major firms and the upheaval across the industry. Stay tuned: We'll have more in Monday's regular edition of 10 Things in Tech — if this was forwarded to you, sign up for the newsletter here. Until then, keep up with the tech industry news by downloading Insider's app and signing up for notifications. Jemal Countess / StringerAnd across the industry:

☆ BRUTAL JOB CUTS JANUARY: More than 55,000 tech workers are being laid off as Microsoft, Google, and others make deep cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce have all announced layoffs this year. All told, some 55,300 employees from more than a 154 tech companies have been affected this year. Microsoft said it's letting go of 10,000 workers over the next few months, while Google will let go of 12,000 employees. The layoffs foreshadow more cuts and potential pay reductions in store for workers this year. Read Insider's coverage of the latest wave of tech layoffs:Google is laying off around 12,000 workers as tech giants continue to slash jobs.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff joked 'Did I miss something?' after arriving late to a meeting the day after laying-off 8,000 staff, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Marc Benioff showed up 15 minutes late to an all-company meeting after layoffs, per The Times of London. The Times reports that Salesforce's CEO then upset many employees by joking: "Did I miss something?" Insider previously reported how staff expressed anger at Benioff, saying he dodged questions about layoffs. In an email to staff, Benioff said: "As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we're now facing, and I take responsibility for that." The company is also reportedly considering laying-off a further 10% of staff depending on financial performance.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff defends his statements that new employees — and possibly younger remote workers — are not as productive, in leaked all-hands meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In leaked all-hands audio, he doubled down, then questioned if younger remote workers were less productive, too. And this time, he made a new suggestion — that younger employees not coming into the office may be less productive as well, according to leaked audio of the meeting shared with Insider. "When we look at some percentage of the employees, especially some of the folks that are new employees, are just not as productive." "Are we not managing our remote employees well enough? Employees who heard their CEO repeat these allegations on the productivity of new employees, younger employees, remote employees — particularly in sales — were less than pleased.

☆ Welcome to Salesforce's week from hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While I learn how to math, my editors Matt Weinberger and Jake Swearingen will update you on tech this week via this newsletter. Before I bounce, let's catch up on the big pains of Big Tech. This type of messiness will likely permeate throughout Big Tech this year. Welcome to Salesforce's week from hell. The day after announcing big layoffs last week, CEO Marc Benioff didn't seem to notice that he was a full 18 minutes late to an all-hands meeting to discuss the cuts.

Take a page from the super-wealthy and successful by reading the books they wrote. Insider compiled a list of 30 books to help you learn how billionaires found success. The list includes "Shoe Dog" by Nike's Phil Knight and "Onward" by ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Whether they want to launch an empire or become the best in their field, there's no better resource than books by people they aspire to be. Whether you or someone you know has set a goal to become a billionaire in the next year, these 30 books can provide some insight and lessons to what it's like to be at the top.

☆ The perks of tech work are rapidly disappearing. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But we've got more to talk about today, including the disappearance of lavish tech industry perks, and which generation of workers are most likely to feel "tech shame." When Elon Musk purchased Twitter, one of the first things he did was take away perks related to wellness, family planning, productivity, training, and home offices. The disappearance of perks is a shift from the decade before, when perks helped companies differentiate themselves from competitors. We explain why the perks of tech work are rapidly disappearing. Musk made the comments before the closure of his Twitter poll, which asked users if he should stay.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff causes an uproar by suggesting in a leaked internal Slack message that new employees are less productive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce's Marc Benioff suggested in an internal Slack message that new employees are less productive. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff appeared to cause an uproar among some employees on Friday by suggesting in an internal Slack message that new employees are less productive, and that remote work might be to blame. "How do we increase the productivity of our employees at Salesforce," Benioff asked in an internal Slack message viewed by Insider. Hundreds of employees responded to Benioff's Slack message, many of them pushing back on the premise that new employees are less productive. "Are our managers not directly addressing productivity with their teams?," Benioff also asked in the Slack message.

On the agenda today:But first: Ashley Stewart, a chief tech correspondent, is giving us a behind-the-scenes look at Salesforce's succession crisis. Salesforce's Marc Benioff. Jemal Countess / StringerOver the past week or so, at least six top executives from Salesforce and its subsidiaries announced plans to leave, Ashley Stewart, chief tech correspondent, writes. Company insiders attribute these departures to co-CEO Marc Benioff exerting increasing control over the company, adding that he's driven away his closest lieutenants while dialing up performance pressure on employees. The departures have created a crisis in leadership at Salesforce.

☆ Salesforce loses another top executive a day after Bret Taylor's departure as Tableau CEO quietly exits. Here are the top execs who left the company recently.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Matt Lynley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tableau CEO Mark Nelson is leaving the Salesforce-owned software company. The news came the day after Salesforce announced co-CEO Bret Taylor's resignation. Here's a list of top Salesforce execs who left the company recently. "Today marks my last day Tableau after an amazing 4 ½ years," Nelson wrote on Twitter. Here are some of the top executives who left Salesforce in the past year:Are you a Salesforce employee or do you have insight to share?

☆ How Gregg Lemkau went from Goldman CEO contender to building a hybrid investment bank catering to billionaires
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Gregg Lemkau was in the running for CEO before he left Goldman Sachs in 2020. Now he runs Michael Dell's investment firm, which is merging with billionaire advisory BDT. When Gregg Lemkau left Goldman Sachs in late 2020 to run Michael Dell's investment firm, many within and outside the bank were surprised. Cardinale, who had left Goldman a decade ago to start his own investment firm, knew it had to be a massive opportunity to pull away Lemkau. Oldest sibling Kristin runs JPMorgan's US wealth management business and Lemkau's younger brother Chip is a managing director at Goldman Sachs in private wealth management.

Search resuls for: "Salesforce's Marc Benioff"

19 mentions found