Salesforce Co-CEO Keith Block recently announced that he would step down from his role and leave the CRM giant. Post his departure, Block will still remain an advisor to founder Marc Benioff, who would now be the sole CEO of the company.
In a statement, Block said, “It’s been my greatest honor to lead the team with Marc that has more than quadrupled Salesforce from $4 billion of revenue when I joined in 2013 to over $17 billion last year. We are now a global enterprise company, focused on industries, and have an ecosystem that is the envy of the industry, and I’m so grateful to our employees, customers, and partners.”
Without mentioning anything about his future plans, Block said that he was ready for his “next chapter,” and pledged to “stay close to the company as an advisor.”
Thanking Benioff for his seven years’ contribution, Benioff said, “Keith’s strategic thinking and operational excellence have deeply strengthened our company, and our close friendship endures. I am Keith’s biggest supporter as he creates the next chapter of his storied career. He will always be part of our Ohana.”
Block was elevated to the position of Co-CEO in August 2018, five years after joining Salesforce. The decision to have two CEOs was taken by the company to free Benioff to focus on vision, innovation, and culture by delegating leadership to Block over executing Salesforce’s growth strategy.
Prior to joining Salesforce, Block worked with Oracle for 26years. He was dismissed by Oracle for reportedly writing emails critical of the management and Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010 for $7.3bn. He was serving as Oracle’s Executive Vice President of North America Sales Operations.
With the announcement of Block’s departure, Salesforce named Gavin Patterson, a former BT Group plc CEO, a British telecommunications giant, as president and CEO of Salesforce International. Patterson will guide all Salesforce business outside of the United States from the company’s European headquarters in London.
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