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☆ Salesforce insiders say that by wooing back former execs, Marc Benioff may finally feel comfortable enough to loosen his grip
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been wooing back former executives for years. Insiders say that those that know Benioff best may get him to loosen his grip. Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff has spent years wooing former executives back to the company. Benioff has surrounded himself with people "that know how Salesforce works and know how Benioff works" one former exec explained. With all of that new blood from aquisitions washed away, Benioff seems to think Salesforce can move forward by going back.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Brian Millham, Millham, Salesforce, Benioff, he's, Miguel Milano, Ariel Kelman, Kendall Collins, Steve Fisher, Dave Moellenhoff, Jim Steele, Clara Shih, Marc, —, Larry Ellison, Benioff's, Keith Block, Bret Taylor, Slack, Stewart Butterfield, Mark Nelson, Julie Bort Organizations: Oracle, Twitter Locations: Salesforce

☆ Salesforce's new generative A.I. products will make companies more productive, says CEO Marc Benioff
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Salesforce's new generative A.I. products will make companies more productive, says CEO Marc BenioffMarc Benioff, Salesforce chair and CEO, joins 'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer from Salesforce's A.I. event to discuss the future of A.I., the use case for the products, and implementation of the tech with current Salesforce partners.

Persons: Marc Benioff Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, Salesforce's

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff voices A.I. privacy concerns, says it can be 'the ultimate liar'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff sat down with CNBC's Jim Cramer on Monday during the company's AI Day in New York City to discuss generative artificial intelligence and Salesforce's newest venture into that realm, AI Cloud. Benioff stressed the importance of privacy when it comes to generative AI products, discussing the way AI has been known to lie — or "hallucinate" — and fabricate information. "They're like huge vacuum cleaners sucking up as much data as they can all over the internet," Benioff said of large language models. Benioff said Salesforce's AI Cloud is combatting hallucinations and protecting customer privacy by keeping humans involved in processes, as well as adding a "trust layer" to anonymize crucial data. You're going to need a trust layer," Benioff said.

Persons: Marc Benioff, CNBC's Jim Cramer, Benioff, James Webb Organizations: Google, Reuters Locations: New York City

☆ Salesforce unveils AI Cloud offering, doubles fund for AI startups to $500 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 12 (Reuters) - Salesforce (CRM.N) on Monday doubled its venture capital fund for generative AI startups to $500 million and unveiled the AI Cloud service that hopes to attract enterprises by offering the company's AI-powered products under one umbrella. AI Cloud will include Salesforce's products from the Einstein service to workplace-messaging app Slack and data analysis software Tableau. The move underscores the race among technology companies to incorporate their tools with generative AI, which can create new text, imagery and other content based on inputs from past data. Along with the company's own offerings, AI Cloud will host the large-language models (LLMs) - the core software of artificial intelligence systems - from providers such as Amazon Web Services, Anthropic and Cohere. Salesforce said it plans to ensure data privacy for businesses using such offerings by helping prevent the LLMs from retaining sensitive customer information.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Einstein, OpenAI, Slack, Tiyashi Datta, Shailesh Organizations: Amazon Web Services, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: the A.I. 'trust layer' will anaonamize data to add a level of security
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff: the A.I. 'trust layer' will anaonamize data to add a level of securityMarc Benioff, Salesforce chair and CEO, joins 'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer from Salesforce's A.I. event to discuss the future of A.I., the use case for the products, and implementation of the tech with current Salesforce partners.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, Salesforce's

☆ Salesforce is developing a ton of new AI products that could lead to 'a massive new buying cycle' Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley analysts believe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Salesforce could be leading it, with a giant list of new AI products in the works. And he told tale after tale of planned AI products. Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss believes Salesforce's claims that AI has the potential to "spark a massive new buying cycle." Rangan tallied up 15 pending AI products from Salesforce. There will be five new AI products incorporated into the Marketing cloud to automate tasks ranging from personalized emails to analyzing engagement.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Claude, Goldman Sachs, Kash Rangan, Salesforce's, Einstein, Rangan, Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss, Weiss Organizations: OpenAI, Salesforce Ventures, Google, Salesforce's, Slack, Products, Next

June 6 (Reuters) - Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) CEO Marc Benioff has shuffled the top management, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, a move that follows after the software company reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth since 2010. Miguel Milano has been appointed as the chief revenue officer, the source said, adding that Ariel Kelman will take over as Salesforce's chief marketing officer. After a previous tenure of nearly a decade at Salesforce, Milano will make a return from his recent position at software company Celonis. Kendall Collins, who will step into the role of chief of staff for Benioff, had worked as CMO at Okta and Cisco's AppDynamics. Salesforce President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham would be assuming new duties such as marketing, employee success and business technology, the source said.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Miguel Milano, Ariel Kelman, Milano, Celonis, Kelman, Kendall Collins, Brian Millham, Salesforce, Benioff, Kanjyik Ghosh, Akriti Sharma, Anirudh, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Salesforce, Reuters, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, Inclusive, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Thomson Locations: Salesforce, Okta, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce CEO shakes up top ranks, hints at succession plan - Insider
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Miguel Milano, who moved back from Celonis, has been appointed Salesforce's chief revenue officer, according to the Insider report, which added that Ariel Kelman, previously the chief marketing officer at Amazon Web Services (AMZN.O) and Oracle (ORCL.N), has been named the new CMO. President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham will be taking on a host of new responsibilities, including marketing, employee success and business technology, the memo said. Salesforce did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The company last month posted an 11% rise in its quarterly revenue, the slowest pace of growth in 13 years. Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Miguel Milano, Ariel Kelman, Brian Millham, Salesforce, Kanjyik Ghosh, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Salesforce, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Inclusive, Thomson Locations: Celonis, Bengaluru

☆ 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

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his fast-rising COO Brian Millham tell us where the software giant is headed after 'a difficult time'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Julie Bort | Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The changes shifted more responsibility to President and COO Brian Millham. The changes shift more responsibility to president and COO Brian Millham, and go some way toward addressing investor concerns about succession -- should Benioff decide to pass the CEO reins in the future. Brian Millham: Closer to 70%. We're seeing many of our ex-employees want to come back to Salesforce, incredible boomerangs back to the company. Benioff: Well, I think Brian and my marriage is quite proven.

Persons: Benioff, Brian Millham, Millham, Nich Carlson, Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Brian, he's, it's, I'm, Marc, Carlson, Ariel Kelman, Miguel Milano, Kendall Collins, you've, I've Organizations: Morning, Insider's Locations: Salesforce's, Salesforce

☆ In an internal memo, Marc Benioff shakes up Salesforce's top ranks, and drops a subtle hint about the company's succession plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Miguel Milano becomes Salesforce's Chief Revenue Officer, moving from the same role at software company Celonis. Ariel Kelman, is the new Chief Marketing Officer of Salesforce. Benioff responded to the pressure by laying off thousands of employees and making other changes to increase the company's efficiency. Miguel Milano, our new Chief Revenue Officer: I'm excited to welcome back Miguel Milano to Salesforce as our Chief Revenue Officer. Ariel Kelman, our new Chief Marketing Officer:It's also incredible to welcome back Ariel Kelman as our new CMO!!!

Persons: Benioff, Marc Benioff, Miguel Milano, Milano, Ariel Kelman, Kendall Collins, Brian Millham, Salesforce, Millham, He's, Read, I'm, Brian, Brent, Juan, Miguel, It's, Ariel, Sarah Franklin, Sarah, she's, Sarah's, Congratulation Sarah, Alex Dayon, Alex, Alex !, Hui Hou Alex, Kendall, salesforce Organizations: Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, Celonis, Amazon Web Services, Staff, Business Technology, Elliott Management, Human Resources, Global, Services, EMEA, APAC, AWS, Advisory, Board Locations: Okta, Salesforce, Celonis, AppDynamics

☆ Investing Club mailbag: Why do some companies have weird fiscal years that don't align with the calendar?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

For example, Club name Salesforce (CRM) just reported its fiscal 2024 first quarter, which actually ended on April 30, 2023. That's why you'll also see it described as the "April '23 quarter" or the "April quarter." Therefore, Salesforce's April '23 quarter, or fiscal 2024 first quarter, started at the beginning of February of this year. Club holding Apple (AAPL), as another example, starts its new fiscal year in the prior calendar year's December quarter. TJX just reported its fiscal 2024 first quarter , also described as the April '23 quarter.

Persons: Jim, Jeff, Salesforce, — Ravi, you'll, Jan, TJX, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer Organizations: Apple, TJX Companies, CNBC

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the pair chatted about AI over dinner together
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and speaks to him regularly. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says that he's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and that the pair spoke about artificial intelligence over dinner together. "My neighbor, Sam Altman, is the CEO of OpenAI," Benioff told investors at the company's earnings call Wednesday. "But I did notice that there was only one application that he was using on his laptop, and that was Slack," Benioff told investors. Speaking about the creation of Slack GPT, Benioff told investors: "You may never need to leave Slack to get a question answered."

Persons: Marc Benioff, Sam Altman, Altman, Benioff, Slack, OpenAI, Elon Musk, Salesforce, Slack GPT, we've Organizations: Elon Locations: OpenAI, San Francisco

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon Prime versus Walmart Plus, BMW adds gaming to its luxury sedan, and Nvidia enters the trillion-dollar club
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk dances onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai Aly Song/Reuters1. Amazon Prime vs. Walmart Plus. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime has more streaming content and access to its infamous Prime Day. Carnival Cruise Lines ships in Marseille. Man who went overboard on a Carnival cruise ship is still missing.

Persons: I'm, Siu, Z, Elana Klein, Elon Musk, Shanghai Aly Song, Elon, —, Nicole Miranda, Gerard Bottino, Ronnie Lee Peale Jr, Caleb Hammer, Diamond Naga Siu, Alistair Barr, Nathan Rennolds Organizations: Tesla, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Walmart Plus, Walmart, BMW, Cruise Locations: Tesla China, Shanghai, China, Beijing, Marseille, Jacksonville , Florida, San Diego, San Francisco, London

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he dreams of the day when AI means the company's messaging system will 'wake up and become intelligent itself'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Generative AI will have "revolutionary" impacts, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told investors. Slack is almost going to like wake up and become intelligent itself," Benioff told CNBC. "We are about to enter an unbelievable super cycle for tech, and everyone can see that," Benioff told investors. "You may never need to leave Slack to get a question answered," Benioff told investors. Generative AI can help users by saving time with routine tasks, gathering and summarizing research, and conveying information concisely.

Persons: Marc Benioff, . Slack, Benioff, Salesforce, Slack, they've, Gucci, we've Organizations: CNBC, Morning, Gucci Locations: Slack

☆ Salesforce delivers a quarterly beat and raise, showing Benioff can deliver on profitability
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The small beat and raise are prompting some profit-taking, resulting in shares falling roughly 6% after hours Wednesday, to around $210 apiece. The best way to offset sluggish revenue growth is by driving profitability higher and Salesforce stepped up to the task. Quarterly Commentary We are pleased to see Salesforce beat across so many key metrics, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment. Although the company left its revenue prediction unchanged, at $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion, the company expects its profitability will come in better than previously anticipated. Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, speaks at an Economic Club of Washington luncheon in Washington, DC, on Oct. 18, 2019.

Persons: Refinitiv ., Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Einstein, Slack, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Nicholas Kamm Organizations: Salesforce, CNBC, Economic, Washington, AFP, Getty Locations: Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Washington ,

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says new AI-enhanced products will be a 'revelation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CEO of cloud software company Salesforce Marc Benioff told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday that artificial intelligence will be and already is a boon for the company, especially when it comes to one of its recently-acquired products, messaging application Slack. "It's going to be an incredible revelation for our customers, that they've got intelligence by their side with Slack." He added that Salesforce's use of AI has already started to benefit it clients, from New York's Northwell Health hospital group to luxury retailer Gucci, which used Salesforce's AI products to enhance their call center employees' performance. "It actually transformed the call center agents into sales agents, into marketing agents, it gave them capabilities they did not have, it augmented them." Salesforce reported a decent quarter on Wednesday after the market's close, with profits up 68% year-to-date by the market's close.

Persons: Marc Benioff, CNBC's Jim Cramer, Slack, Benioff, Cramer, they've, " Slack, it's, Salesforce Organizations: Health, Gucci Locations: New

☆ Marc Benioff touts Salesforce's 'performance culture' as the cloud giant speeds towards the profit margins Wall Street wants
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CEO Marc Benioff said the company's "performance culture" is fueling that profitability. Guidance for the company's adjusted operating margins for its current fiscal year, 2024, has been raised to 28%, CEO Marc Benioff said on Salesforce's first-quarter earnings call Wednesday. That is a significant stride towards the company's goal of exceeding 30% adjusted operating margins in the next two years, a goal Insider reported in February. Profit margins improved in the first quarter largely thanks to the company's restructuring plans, which included laying off 10% of its workforce and shedding office space. Both Benioff and chief operating officer Brian Milham touted the company's "performance culture" for driving its results in the first quarter.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Amy Weaver, Brian Milham, Benioff, Milham, Slack, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Elliott Management, Revenue Locations: Salesforce

☆ Salesforce raises guidance but sees pressure as customers back away from big consulting deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Here's how the company did:Earnings: $1.69 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.61 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. $1.69 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.61 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected $1.70 in adjusted earnings per share and $8.49 billion in revenue. It's now calling for $7.41 to $7.43 in adjusted earnings per share on $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion in revenue. During the quarter, Salesforce announced Einstein GPT generative artificial intelligence technology designed to help salespeople, marketers and customer-service agents do their jobs more efficiently.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Refinitiv, Salesforce's, Brian Millham, Millham, Amy Weaver, ChatGPT, Lidiane Jones Organizations: Jazz, Lincoln Center, StreetAccount, Elliott Investment Management Locations: New York, Refinitiv, Salesforce

☆ Options Action: Traders looking for more gains as Salesforce hits record high
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailOptions Action: Traders looking for more gains as Salesforce hits record highMike Khouw, Optimize Advisors president, joins CNBC’s Melissa Lee and the Options Action traders to discuss Salesforce's stock hitting an all time high.

Persons: Mike Khouw, Melissa Lee Organizations: Options

☆ Tableau's chief product officer says he's relied on 3 strategies to help his company thrive through more than a decade of economic ups and downs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Meira Gebel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Francois Ajenstat, Tableau's chief product officer, has been with the company for over 12 years. When faced with economic uncertainties, Ajenstat leans on the organization's value propositions. "Change management is hard for people, so you always have to connect people to the why," he told Insider. Ajenstat told Insider how fellow tech leaders can stay out of the red, while meeting their goals. Times of economic uncertainty provide leaders with the opportunity to evaluate operations, Ajenstat told Insider.

☆ How Wall Street pros traded 7 of our Club stocks, including Salesforce, in the first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Lots of Club holdings, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOGL), were among the stocks traded by some of Wall Street's biggest investors and money managers in the first quarter. That firm, Jeffrey Ubben's Inclusive Capital, had owned 1.63 million Salesforce shares at the end of December, worth nearly $217 million at the time. Jeff Smith's Starboard Value also sold some Salesforce shares in Q1, leaving the firm with 2.5 million shares at the end of March. Mason Morfit's ValueAct Capital amplified its Salesforce stake in the first quarter, ending with 3.5 million shares, up from just 560,221 shares at the end of 2022. Loeb's Third Point amassed 4.75 million shares of Alphabet, worth $492.7 million at the end of the first quarter.

☆ Marc Benioff says he has a successor. A leaked Salesforce org chart identifies the likely candidates.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marc Benioff's succession plan appeared to fall apart when co-CEO Bret Taylor resigned on Nov. 30. "I always have a succession plan," Benioff told Insider. A leaked Salesforce organizational chart identifies the likely candidates who are next in line. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he has a successor in mind and a leaked Salesforce organizational chart identifies the likely candidates who are next in line. "I always have a succession plan," Benioff told Insider in an interview.

☆ Slack's CEO Lidiane Jones on integrating generative A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSlack's CEO Lidiane Jones on integrating generative A.I. CNBC's Frank Holland and Slack CEO Lidiane Jones join 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss Salesforce's integration of A.I. in to Slack, and the questions about scaling up enterprise A.I..

☆ Bret Taylor was sidelined as Salesforce's co-CEO and resigned after a failed play to become sole CEO, company insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce's co-CEO and heir apparent Bret Taylor shocked the industry when he resigned last year. It was a disappointment," Benioff told Insider. Salesforce's co-CEO and heir apparent Bret Taylor shocked the industry when he resigned on Nov. 30 — one year after taking the job. Taylor made an "abrupt" play to become Salesforce's sole CEO, according to a former executive familiar with the matter. Taylor joined Salesforce in 2016 after it acquired Quip, a productivity software startup founded by Taylor, for $750 million.

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