In November 2021, Salesforce named Bret Taylor co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff, a move many expected would lead to a change in the top role. After just 12 months, Taylor has abruptly stepped down in a move Benioff described as 'a bittersweet moment'.
The announcement came as part of their Q3'23 Earnings Report and the stock moved 7% lower in after hours sessions.
Bret Taylor's History at Salesforce
Taylor joined the ranks of Salesforce in 2016 when they announced the acquisition of Quip, the startup he founded in 2012 and scaled through a successful $750m exit.
Many believed that Quip would play a vital role in Salesforce's strategy to take on Microsoft Teams, providing critical collaboration and document management tools that didn't exist within the core Salesforce product. In 2019, Quip was re-launched as Salesforce Anywhere and the strategy seemed to be playing out as expected.
But December 2020 brought the blockbuster Slack acquisition, which apparently Taylor played a big role in closing. While it put a ceiling on the level of impact that Quip may play in the strategic roadmap, Taylor was elevated to co-CEO in late 2021 and it seemed his product vision and years of experience at companies like Google and Facebook would catapult him into the lead role at Salesforce and set them up for a future beyond Benioff.
Given the reaction to his departure, it seems to come as a surprise to most with the only statement being that he "decided to return to [his] entrepreneurial roots".
A rough December 2022 for Bret Taylor
December 2021 was incredible for Bret Taylor, who was elevate to the co-CEO of Salesforce and board chair of Twitter in a single week.
2022 was slightly different story as he lost the seat on Twitter's board following Elon Musk's takeover and followed it up with his Salesforce resignation a few weeks later.
What is the future for Marc Benioff?
The best guess for what happened is that Marc Benioff elevated Taylor to co-CEO in late 2021 as a succession plan for his inevitable departure. Someone with the background and pedigree of Taylor likely only accepts that role with the expressed belief that he will take over the top job in short order.
As Salesforce faces mounting pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, who took a "significant stake" in Salesforce 2 months ago, it's quite possible that Benioff has decided to stay on board to defend the company he founded 23 years ago. Unfortunately, that has come at a cost with the departure of his top lieutenant all while the stock is down 40% YTD with the macro economy weighing heavily on the entire technology sector.
Time will tell what comes next for the leadership shake up at Salesforce.
