# Marc Benioff

> Marc Benioff is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Salesforce, the company that invented cloud-based CRM and pioneered the SaaS model. He built Salesforce from a San Francisco apartment in 1999 into the world's largest enterprise applications company, while simultaneously pioneering the 1-1-1 corporate philanthropy model that has been adopted by thousands of companies globally. Owner of Time magazine since 2018 and a vocal advocate for stakeholder capitalism, Benioff sits at the intersection of tech innovation, spiritual practice, and social activism — swimming with dolphins in Hawaii one day, staging fake protests outside competitor conferences the next.

- **Role:** Chairman & CEO at Salesforce
- **Organizations:** Salesforce, Time Magazine, Pledge 1%, World Economic Forum, Time Ventures
- **From:** San Francisco, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of Southern California (USC), High School Diploma, Burlingame High School
- **Known for:** Co-founded Salesforce in 1999, pioneering SaaS and cloud-based CRM, Built Salesforce into the world's largest enterprise applications company, Created the 1-1-1 philanthropy model, adopted by 20,000+ companies globally

## Career timeline

- **1977-1979** — Founded Liberty Software at age 15, creating Atari games including 'Flapper' and 'King Arthur's Heir'; sold first app 'How to Juggle' for $75
- **1984-1986** — Interned at Apple Computer while at USC, writing assembly code for the Macintosh
- **1986** — Joined Oracle Corporation post-graduation; named Oracle Rookie of the Year at age 23
- **1989** — Became youngest Vice President in Oracle history; worked closely with Larry Ellison as mentor
- **1996** — Took sabbatical from Oracle; lived in Hawaii hut, swam with dolphins — idea for Salesforce emerged; traveled to India, met Amma (the Hugging Saint) who inspired the 1-1-1 model
- **1999** — Co-founded Salesforce in a San Francisco apartment with $2M seed from Larry Ellison; launched 'The End of Software' campaign
- **2000** — Staged a fake protest outside Siebel Systems conference — stunt earned Salesforce its first 100 customers
- **2003** — Appointed co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee by President George W. Bush
- **2004** — Published 'Compassionate Capitalism'
- **2009** — Published 'Behind the Cloud'; named Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum
- **2014** — Co-founded Pledge 1% with Scott Farquhar of Atlassian
- **2016** — Signed Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge with wife Lynne; threatened Georgia investments over anti-LGBTQ+ bill
- **2018** — Purchased Time magazine with wife Lynne for $190 million
- **2019** — Published New York Times bestseller 'Trailblazer'; donated $30M to UCSF homelessness research
- **2020** — Procured 50 million PPE items for hospitals during COVID-19; named CNN Business CEO of 2020
- **2022** — Named Knight of the Legion of Honour by France; 'Innovator of the Decade' by Forbes
- **2023** — Launched Agentforce AI platform; announced and later regretted laying off 7,000 employees
- **2024** — Succeeded Warren Buffett as GLIDE Foundation charity auctioneer; Yale Legend in Leadership Award
- **2025** — Agentforce ARR surpassed $800M; donated $150M to Hawaii Pacific Health; reduced support staff from 9,000 to 5,000 as AI handles half of customer interactions
- **2026** — Reaffirmed $60 billion revenue target by 2030; recognized as America's 21st largest donor for 11th time

## Achievements

- Co-founded Salesforce in 1999, pioneering SaaS and cloud-based CRM
- Built Salesforce into the world's largest enterprise applications company
- Created the 1-1-1 philanthropy model, adopted by 20,000+ companies globally
- Co-founded Pledge 1% with Scott Farquhar (2014)
- Purchased Time magazine for $190 million (2018)
- Published four books including New York Times bestseller 'Trailblazer' (2019)
- Donated over $1 billion personally to charitable causes
- Named 'Innovator of the Decade' by Forbes (2022)
- Appointed Knight of the French Legion of Honour (2022)
- Named CNN Business CEO of 2020
- Named Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum; elected to WEF Board of Trustees
- Procured 50 million PPE items during COVID-19 pandemic
- Led Salesforce to become San Francisco's largest private employer
- Initiated $8 million pay equity audit at Salesforce by race and gender (2015-2017)
- Successfully pressured Indiana and Georgia to amend anti-LGBTQ+ legislation
- Yale School of Management Legend in Leadership Award (2024)
- Launched Agentforce, reaching $800M ARR as fastest-growing Salesforce product
- Named to Fortune's World's 50 Greatest Leaders (2016 and 2022)
- Named one of 10 Best-Performing CEOs by Harvard Business Review (2019)
- Recognized as America's 21st largest donor by Chronicle of Philanthropy (11th time, 2026)

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Agentforce ARR surpassed $800 million; Benioff reaffirmed $60B 2030 revenue target despite ~30% CRM stock decline year-to-date
- **2026-01** — Called for repeal of Section 230, asking 'What's more important to us, growth or our kids?'
- **2025-12** — Floated renaming Salesforce Tower to 'Agentforce Tower'
- **2025-11** — Switched from ChatGPT to Google Gemini 3 after 3 years of daily ChatGPT use
- **2025-10** — Announced $100 million gift for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals; called for National Guard in SF (later apologized)
- **2025-09** — Reduced Salesforce support workforce from 9,000 to 5,000 as AI agents handle half of customer interactions
- **2025-03** — Donated $150 million to Hawaii Pacific Health hospital network — largest single healthcare donation to Hawaii

## Links

- Website: https://www.salesforce.com/company/marc-benioff-bio/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/Benioff
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benioff/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/marc-benioff
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-30