Bret Taylor is leaving his post as co-CEO of Salesforce a year after taking the position working alongside founder Marc Benioff, the company has announced. Taylor was promoted from his previous roles as president and chief operating officer in December of 2021; he joined the company in 2016 with the acquisition of his previous company, productivity software startup Quip. This comes three years after Benioff lost his previous co-CEO, Keith Block, calling into question the founder’s ability to share leadership duties.
Since joining Salesforce, Taylor has played a key role in many areas, most notably leading the $27.1 billion acquisition of Slack, the company’s largest transaction to date. Benioff has championed the co-CEO model as a way to divide-and-conquer strategy, providing him the time to focus on philanthropy and other interests. As recently as the company’s 2022 Dreamforce conference in September, the two appeared excited about the future.
Taylor was also recently caught up in Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, being ousted as chairman of the social media company after a long battle to hold the billionaire to the acquisition. The executive now plans to found a new company, according to Benioff.
