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☆ Salesforce's behind-the-scenes co-founder is tackling Slack as software company turns 25
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

"The V2MOM had nothing about generative AI," Parker Harris, who co-founded the company with Benioff, told CNBC in an interview. Harris, a Salesforce board member and now the technology chief of Slack, which Salesforce bought in 2021, said he'd rather avoid the limelight. Without the Data Cloud, Harris told CNBC, "I think we would have been in a much worse place." He told Benioff he'd redo the plan, the person said. They'll be talking more frequently, as Harris said they're about to kick off weekly meetings on Slack and Salesforce integrations.

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☆ Salesforce turns to 'boomerangs,' luring back former execs to help reignite growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Marc Benioff, chief executive officer of Salesforce.com Inc., right, greets attendees after a keynote at the company's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2023. Ariel Kelman had been away from Salesforce for over a decade, when he received a direct message on Twitter from CEO Marc Benioff earlier this year. "I just thought it was good timing," Kelman said in an interview at Salesforce's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco last week. Kelman spent the few months prior running marketing at a startup called Fireblocks before rejoining Salesforce in June as chief marketing officer. Kelman and Milano are among at least eight ex-Salesforce execs who have rejoined the gang in 2023, as the company approaches its 25th birthday.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Benioff, Ariel Kelman, who'd, Kelman, Miguel Milano, Milano, Brian Millham, Millham, Dreamforce . Kelman, Salesforce, Bret Taylor, it's Organizations: Salesforce.com Inc, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, Salesforce's, Salesforce, CNBC Locations: San Francisco, Salesforce, Madrid

"This quarter puts Salesforce in a league of its own and isn't being appreciated nearly enough at these prices," Jim says. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce's year-to-date stock performance. That is likely why Salesforce stock traded at a valuation "well below" its peers, Smith argued at the time. For context, here's the full list of Salesforce peers included Starboard's presentation: Club holding Microsoft 's (MSFT) productivity and business processes segment, Adobe, Club holding Oracle (ORCL), Intuit (INTU), ServiceNow, Workday and SAP (SAP). Importantly, that $265 target is strictly the result of applying current average peer valuation to Salesforce's current growth/profit mix.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, Jim, Salesforce, Jeff Smith —, Smith, Salesforce's, —, it's, Jim Cramer's, Patrick T Organizations: —, Club, ServiceNow, Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, Intuit, SAP, CRM, CNBC, Salesforce.com Inc, Global Technology, Fallon, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: That's, TurboTax, Salesforce's, Laguna Beach , California, U.S

☆ Salesforce follows Microsoft in launching A.I. tools for salespeople with help from OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The company said Tuesday that it will release software incorporating artificial intelligence to help salespeople, customer service agents and marketers do their jobs. Salesforce is calling the offering Einstein GPT, drawing on OpenAI's technology that's taken the tech industry by storm since the Microsoft-backed startup opened ChatGPT to the public in November. These AI models sometimes display incorrect information, prompting companies that sell to big businesses and governments to proceed carefully. Like Salesforce, Microsoft is trying to keep the spread of incorrect information to a minimum as it brings AI features to its competing Dynamics 365 software. Salesforce is also touting a new ChatGPT app for Slack that can display information derived from Salesforce.

☆ At Marc Benioff’s Salesforce, It’s One Big Family—Until Trouble Hits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Tom Dotan | Katherine Bindley | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Through the sky’s-the-limit boom years, Marc Benioff , the co-founder and chief executive of Salesforce.com Inc., told employees they were bound together like family. In today’s leaner times, he is laying off thousands of them. Since its founding in 1999, the San Francisco-based business-software company has grown fast and spent big. Salesforce put its name on skyscrapers in San Francisco, Tokyo, London and New York City and, according to people familiar with the arrangement, agreed to pay actor Matthew McConaughey more than $10 million a year to be a creative adviser and TV pitchman. Mr. Benioff added around 30,000 employees from the start of 2020 until the end of last year, roughly a 60% increase.

☆ Exclusive: Alphabet spinoff Sandbox AQ raises $500 mln for cyber security, other work
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Sandbox AQ, a startup spun off from Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) last year, said on Tuesday it raised $500 million as it helps customers prepare for a quantum computing future. Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is the startup's chairman as well as an investor. Other investors include Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price funds and Salesforce.com Inc founder Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures. Reporting By Jane Lanhee Lee; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Exclusive: Alphabet spinoff Sandbox AQ raises $500 mln for cyber security, other quantum work
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Jane Lanhee Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb 14 (Reuters) - Sandbox AQ, a startup spun off from Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) last year, said on Tuesday it raised $500 million as it helps customers prepare for a quantum computing future. Quantum computers, whose processors run based on quantum physics, could one day carry out certain calculations millions of times quicker than today's fastest super computers, yet they remain years away from making a big change, such as breaking encryption. The simulation does not currently need quantum computers to work, said Hidary. When quantum computers are ready, that work would speed up even further. Sandbox AQ is also using existing types of sensors based on quantum physics.

☆ Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff hints at more potential layoffs after this week's job cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The virtual meeting came a day after Salesforce announced that it was cutting 10% of jobs, amounting to over 7,000 positions. Tech companies are shrinking their workforce for the first time in years as they reckon with slowing growth, rising interest rates and a potential recession. Now Salesforce is retrenching as revenue growth is slowing and as it faces an activist investor concerned about operating leverage. During Thursday's meeting, Benioff expressed frustration about media reports that surfaced regarding his his comments. WATCH: Jim Cramer says more tech layoffs are coming after Salesforce cuts 10% of its headcount

☆ Blockchain Fails to Gain Traction in the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Some companies say they haven’t found a compelling enough reason to use it. Many didn’t have digital record-keeping systems and had to make large upfront investments before they could start using blockchain, Walmart said. Walmart is using blockchain to track leafy greens and green bell peppers. Earlier this year, the state of Jharkhand in eastern India began using blockchain to track seed distributions to farmers.

On Monday, the company announced the departure of Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, who joined Salesforce last year as part of its biggest acquisition ever. Taylor, who joined Salesforce in 2016 through the acquisition of his startup Quip, said he'd "decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots." While Taylor and Butterfield are the highest-profile exits, they're far from alone among Salesforce's executive ranks. Noah Weiss, senior vice president of product at Slack, will succeed Yehoshua, Butterfield said in a Slack message. Butterfield is being succeeded by Lidiane Jones, an executive vice president at Salesforce who joined in 2019.

☆ Salesforce shares slump nearly 10% after co-CEO Bret Taylor announces surprise departure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce shares were down about 10% by mid-day Thursday as analysts and investors digested Wednesday evening's earnings report and the surprise news that co-CEO Bret Taylor will depart by the end of Jan. 2023. Taylor's departure will leave founder Marc Benioff as the sole CEO at the tech giant. Taylor was appointed co-CEO and vice chair in Nov. 2021, having previously served as president and chief operating officer. Taylor was also chairman of the board of Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk took the company private. Taylor joined Salesforce in 2016 when his startup, Quip, was acquired by Benioff's company.

Salesforce said Wednesday that Bret Taylor will step down as co-CEO on Jan. 31, leaving Marc Benioff alone again at the top of the cloud software company he co-founded in 1999. Benioff closely embraced Taylor, who joined the company in 2016, when he sold his productivity software startup Quip to Salesforce. "I am grateful for six fantastic years at Salesforce," Taylor said in a statement on Wednesday. Before Quip, Taylor sold FriendFeed to Facebook and helped to create Google Maps. But the company's stock was down as much as 6% in after-hours trading.

☆ Former top lawyer for Slack, Groupon joins Sullivan & Cromwell
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Chinekwu Osakwe | Thomson Reuters | Chinekwu Osakwe Covers Legal Industry News With A Focus On Midsize Law Firms. Reach Her At Chinekwu.Osakwe Thomsonreuters.Com. | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Law firms Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Follow(Reuters) - Sullivan & Cromwell has hired a former general counsel for Slack Technologies LLC, Groupon Inc and Salesforce.com Inc to join its Palo Alto office, the law firm said Monday. David Schellhase, who left his position at Slack in Aug. 2021 after almost five years, will be part of the firm's general practice group as of counsel. Before his time at Slack, Schellhase spent over a year as chief operating officer for software company Honest Work Corp. Schellhase said in a statement that he is eager to join the New York-founded law firm as the maturing technology industry seeks out legal expertise. Read More:Sullivan & Cromwell leads first-half M&A in slower 2022 for firm dealmakersSullivan & Cromwell antitrust co-head Holley departs for hedge fundOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Salesforce cut hundreds of employees on Monday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce on Tuesday confirmed that it cut some employees this week after the enterprise software maker saw demand lighten in some countries and industries. One person familiar with the matter said Salesforce let go of fewer than 1,000 people on Monday. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition," a Salesforce spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. Several technology companies, Salesforce included, have announced plans to add employees at a slower rate than before this year to weather rougher business conditions as prices and interest rates move higher. One of Salesforce's top competitors in business software, Microsoft , announced a round of job cuts in October.

And Jim Cramer was on site in San Francisco to talk with leading tech CEOs , including the heads of Salesforce and its subsidiary Slack. Salesforce Co-CEO Marc Benioff Benioff said Salesforce is integrating Slack into Customer 360, the company's customer relationship management platform, so that it becomes the primary messaging system for users. Quip, the word processing app Salesforce acquired in 2016, will also be integrated into Slack. Salesforce Co-CEO Bret Taylor Taylor highlighted Salesforce's shift towards profitability -- it's aiming for a 25% operating margin in 2026 by limiting spending — and commitment to returning cash to shareholders. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Salesforce aims for 25% operating margin in 2026 with more efficient spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The company is aiming for a 25% adjusted operating margin, including future acquisitions, she said. That compares with the 20% target Salesforce announced one year ago for its 2023 fiscal year. Salesforce indicated that it intends to push adjusted sales and marketing spending as a percentage of revenue below 35% by 2026 through increasing self-serve efforts, alliances with partners, and productivity improvements for salespeople. Additionally, Salesforce is keen to manage general and administrative spending, in part by evaluating real estate assets for a hybrid workplace. The company has begun buying back its own shares as part of its first share-repurchase program, Weaver said.

☆ 3 of our big tech companies are holding events this week. Here’s what we’re looking for
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Three of our Club holdings — Salesforce (CRM), Nvidia (NVDA) and Qualcomm (QCOM) — will be hosting events this week that we believe have the potential to be catalysts for their stocks. However, it did announce a new $10 billion repurchase program and reiterated a commitment to disciplined margin, cash flow, and revenue growth. Nvidia Nvidia faces a video gaming chip glut and new license requirements that could put China sales at risk. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Adobe, Figma Deal Signals New Era in Collaboration, Productivity
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The purchase of Figma, whose tools are used by designers and developers, is Adobe’s largest-ever acquisition and extends its reach into new areas. The rising popularity of social networks helped fuel interest in an earlier wave of collaboration technology companies, including Jive Software and workplace chat company Yammer, later acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Startups that employ concepts of collaboration, including digital work-space company Notion, document company Coda and app platform Airtable, took off among software, design and product teams. Adobe is best-known by consumers for software programs—including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat—used for graphic design, video editing and more. The fact that Adobe was willing to pay so much for Figma reflects that belief that its software was fundamentally different, according to Mr. Saper.

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