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. He asked Ellison for some time … Benioff reported back that the agency was, acceptably, using the software for recruitment — not enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, which he called immoral. - Marc Benioff . I'm an American and I always support candidates I think are great for the country." 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. 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. Back in 2015, in the early days of the debate over gender differences in Silicon Valley compensation, Benioff ordered a review of Salesforce salaries. “I was very appreciative,” Benioff says of Pence’s change of heart. And he himself has long been dogged by speculation that he would want to run for San Francisco mayor someday. As of 2018, Benioff owns Timemagazine. It is scheduled for Thursday. But Benioff is taking a step away from partisan politics at a moment when other tech leaders are rushing toward it. Or online privacy. “I’m not a Republican or a Democrat,” says Benioff, who indeed gave more than $1.2 million to both parties in the past two decades before swearing off all campaign contributions earlier this year. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Professions. Gas prices rise slightly after ransomware attack on oil pipeline. Asked if religion is motivating him, he responds: “No, this is just modern values. “They’re working on moving the world to theirs.” Coming out of the mouth of another tech CEO, that might sound like a complaint. 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… With the Time deal, that seems as unlikely as ever. Asked about the relationship with Customs, Benioff says little beyond noting that “they are a Salesforce customer.”. Take equal pay. Also, they say, he talks about cultural respect, but he makes use of native Hawaiian imagery — he calls Salesforce employees collectively "ohana," a Hawaiian word that roughly translates to “kin.”, What’s more, they grumble, when push comes to shove, Benioff’s insistence that Salesforce be used for “ethical” purposes can be situational. For Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the fight was personal. Concerns about features like Autopilot aren’t going unnoticed in Washington. 45:38 'Bloomberg Technology' Full Show (04/09/2021) 01:51:21. Benioff seems to expand — fedora-wearing, 6-foot-5, human, sometimes a little sweaty around the margins. News Politics World Sport Technology Business Money Opinion Obituaries … 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. ‘It’s not exactly political activism, but it is action on issues beyond business.’” I don’t call this social or political activism. ", Sign up for the Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff hasn't been sparing with his criticism of Facebook. Benioff shared that policy when asked which presidential candidate he would be voting for on Tuesday in California’s Democratic primary. Politics. 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. 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. Just 3.4% of Salesforce's 49,000 workers identify as Black. Marc Benioff: CEOs as Important as Political Leaders. It should cost something. “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. “We’re very pleased today to have Marc Benioff, who’s the —,” begins David Rubenstein, the president of the Economic Club of Washington D.C., during a lunch event at a downtown Marriott. Benioff shot back a sassy note — “Hi Jack. 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. “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. Birthdays. Formerly a registered Republican, Benioff is now unaffiliated with either party. Topics. Benioff threatened to pull business from the state, and former Gov. Salesforce is not a political organization and our values don’t come with party affiliations.”. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Salesforce has since its founding given 1 percent of its products, equity, and employee time to philanthropy. Tech billionaire Marc Benioff used to give millions to politicians. 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. Recode has learned the founder of Salesforce is no longer making political contributions to candidates, fundraising for candidates, or endorsing candidates. It’s not unreasonable for media owners to try to avoid taking partisan political stances so as not to jeopardize their publication’s objectivity. That’s what I’m trying to do.”. (CNBC accused him of delivering a “tirade” after he criticized Uber’s corporate leadership last year in Davos.). Please consider making a contribution to Vox today from as little as $3. Other tech CEOs, like Facebook’s Zuckerberg, appear to shrink in the political spotlight. 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. Benioff has publicly championed Salesforce's diversity efforts, but employees say otherwise. And Benioff’s call to split up Facebook — “It’s addictive, it’s not good for you, they’re trying to hook your kids” — wins him praise from David Segal, executive director of the civil liberties group Demand Progress: “I’m happy to praise just about anybody for coming to the conclusion that Facebook needs to be broken up.” Matt Stoller, one of Silicon Valley’s most relentless adversaries in Washington and a fellow at the Open Markets Institute, said of Benioff that his “arguments of late seem to be correct.”, Of course, Benioff also has his critics who, while largely insisting on speaking off the record, say he’s operating from his own place of privilege: With monthly user fees turning Salesforce into a cash-generating behemoth, it’s easy for him to beat the drum for higher taxes or beat up on the data-driven advertising that fuels a Facebook or Twitter. 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. 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. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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. Since June 2015, he has donated to a handful of Democratic politicians, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is running to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer when she steps down later this year. Benioff says he’s on a lifelong journey of cultivating shoshin, or the Zen Buddhist concept of “beginner’s mind” — learning as he’s going along, in politics as in all else. Over the last 25 years, Benioff has given $1.7 million to politicians and groups, including a $500,000 contribution to a gun-control group in 2013. 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. He made the comments a week after Facebook's Oversight Board, which was created to review its moderation decisions, ruled … 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. Authors. “Leading with those values.”. 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. Perhaps no slice of the corporate world needs to hear that more, he suggests, than Silicon Valley, even if that kind of talk alarms his fellow business elites. 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. 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. 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. “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. Last year, about 650 of Salesforce’s own employees asked Benioff to “re-examine” a contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Benioff is swearing off future political donations, in stark contrast to the rest of Silicon Valley. And Washington is listening. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. 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. 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. 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. 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