Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block Steps Down -- Update
February 25 2020 - 5:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
Salesforce.com Inc. said its co-chief executive Keith Block is
stepping down from his role, just 18 months after taking the job,
ending for now a brief experiment with dual CEOs that leaves Marc
Benioff solely in charge of the business-software provider.
Mr. Block, a longtime Oracle Corp. executive, joined Salesforce
in 2013 as president and vice chairman. He became co-CEO in 2018 in
an unusual setup that paired him with Mr. Benioff, a Salesforce
co-founder with a wide array of outside interests that now include
ownership of Time magazine. Mr. Block had oversight of the
company's growth strategy and day-to-day operations.
"After a fantastic run I am ready for my next chapter and will
stay close to the company as an advisor," he said in a statement.
The company didn't provide additional comment.
Salesforce said its revenue more than quadrupled over Mr.
Block's time at the company to more than $17 billion in the year
ended Jan. 31.
Founded in 1999, Salesforce has evolved to become one of the
largest providers of software products for businesses.
The twin-CEO structure has had a mixed record at the small
number of companies that have tried it over the years.
Oracle had such a structure but abandoned it after the death of
Mark Hurd last year, leaving Safra Catz as the database provider's
sole chief executive. German rival SAP SE adopted a co-CEO
leadership team last year.
A leadership duo at Deutsche Bank AG struggled after a series of
financial missteps and regulatory penalties led both co-CEOs to
resign in 2015.
The executive change at Salesforce came as the company reported
swinging to a net loss of $248 million from a profit of $548
million a year earlier. Excluding items such as stock-based
compensation, Salesforce posted a profit of 66 cents a share,
compared with a profit of 70 cents a share a year earlier.
Sales in the quarter increased 35% to $4.85 billion, compared
with the $4.76 billion that analysts surveyed by FactSet had
expected.
Salesforce also Tuesday named Gavin Patterson, a former chief of
BT Group PLC, as president and chief of Salesforce International.
Mr. Patterson was most recently Salesforce's chair of Europe, the
Middle East and Africa. The company said he now oversees its
largest markets outside of the U.S.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 25, 2020 17:15 ET (22:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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