Salesforce Promotes President and COO Bret Taylor to Co-CEO
Author By Sophia VidaPosted on Wall Street learned on Tuesday that Salesforce has promoted president and COO Bret Taylor to the role of co-CEO alongside CEO Marc Benioff.
Benioff founded the company in 1999 and built it into one of the world’s largest enterprise software companies.
Taylor, 41, joined Salesforce in 2016, through the $412 million acquisition of his productivity software start-up Quip. Taylor had co-founded that company four years earlier.
He quickly moved up the ranks to Salesforce and became president and chief product officer, participating in quarterly earnings calls with analysts. Taylor played a key role in Salesforce’s Slack acquisition.
“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, in a press release.
“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,” he added.
Taylor made $13.9 million in total compensation for the 2021 fiscal year, mostly from stock awards, according to a recent proxy statement from the company.
The new co-CEO owns about $329 million worth of Salesforce shares, according to FactSet. Taylor received Salesforce stock in exchange for his Quip holdings.
With the promotion, Taylor’s annual salary has been increased to $1.4 million from $1 million, and his annual target bonus jumped to 200% of his base salary from 150%.
Salesforce also said it intends to grand Taylor $3 million worth of performance stock units and options to purchase $2 million of Salesforce shares at the closing price on the grant date.
“Marc has been my mentor, my greatest supporter and my trusted friend for years,” said Taylor in a statement. “Partnering with him to lead the company he co-founded 22 years ago is an enormous privilege.”
Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.
