Nobody appeared to see Bret Taylor stepping away from Salesforce (even Marc Benioff) • TechCrunch

In what can solely be characterised as a shocking flip of occasions, Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor introduced his resignation yesterday, claiming he needed to return to his entrepreneurial roots. No matter his causes, it was a shock to all who cowl this firm, and it’s secure to say that few if any noticed this coming — even his mentor, Salesforce co-founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff.

Taylor is a Silicon Valley mover and a shaker. He’s labored at large corporations like Google and Fb. Till not too long ago, he was board chair at Twitter, serving to lead the social media large via this turbulent yr of Musk-induced insanity till its new proprietor dissolved its board final month.

He additionally has small-company expertise as former CEO at FriendFeed, an early social networking outfit, and Quip, which Salesforce purchased in 2016 for a hefty $750 million.

Taylor and Benioff appeared to hit it off instantly after Quip joined Salesforce, and the connection was (and apparently stays) deep and heartfelt. Because of this, Taylor raced via the ranks on the CRM large to co-chairman and co-CEO in simply 4 years.

When Jeff Bezos stepped again as CEO at Amazon final yr after main the corporate since its founding in 1994, we speculated that Benioff may very well be the subsequent government to take that step. The logical alternative, the inheritor obvious, seemed to be Taylor, who was poised to take over each time Benioff determined to spend extra time in Hawaii.

As an alternative, we’ve got Taylor strolling away and Benioff in cost for the foreseeable future.