Marc Benioff once again has a right-hand man after losing Keith Block in early 2020.

Kelly Teal, Contributing Editor

December 1, 2021

6 Slides

Marc Benioff once again has a right-hand man. On Tuesday, the billionaire entrepreneur appointed 41-year-old Bret Taylor as his Salesforce co-CEO.

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Salesforce’s Bret Taylor

Taylor moves up from president and chief operating officer to assume the new role. He came to Salesforce in 2016 when the cloud CRM company bought Quip, which Taylor founded.

Benioff now has a fellow CEO to lean on again, even though he insists he’s “never leaving” Salesforce. Benioff had named Keith Block his first co-CEO three years ago. Block was to handle the day-to-day operations, freeing Benioff to focus on culture and strategy. But the corporate partnership didn’t last long. Block left in early 2020 and Salesforce did not give a reason. Presumably, Taylor will assume the same responsibilities Block handled as Salesforce co-CEO.

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Salesforce’s Marc Benioff

“Bret is a phenomenal industry leader who has been instrumental in creating incredible success for our customers and driving innovation throughout our company,” Benioff said. “He has been my trusted friend for years, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome him as co-CEO. … Together, Bret and I will lead Salesforce through our next chapter, while living our shared values of trust, customer success, innovation and equality for all.”

Check out our short slideshow above to learn more about Taylor.

About the Author(s)

Kelly Teal

Contributing Editor, Channel Futures

Kelly Teal has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist, editor and analyst, with longtime expertise in the indirect channel. She worked on the Channel Partners magazine staff for 11 years. Kelly now is principal of Kreativ Energy LLC.

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