The stock of Salesforce initially sank 3 percent in extended trading after the CRM giant announced co-CEO Keith Block is stepping down. Marc Benioff, the other co-CEO, is now the sole CEO. Salesforce also announced fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat expectations, along with an acquisition.
In 2013, Block joined Salesforce from Oracle as President and Vice-Chairman. He was promoted to the rank of Operating Chief in 2016 and became the co-CEO of Salesforce alongside Benioff in August 2018. In a statement, Salesforce said Block will stay on as an adviser for a year.
Block was quoted as saying in the statement it has 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. Block said he is ready for his next chapter after a fantastic run and will be forever grateful for our friendship and proud of the trajectory the company is on.
In a profile published in early 2019, Benioff said he elevated Block to co-CEO to enable a “divide and conquer strategy” and to give him time to do the things he enjoys.
Salesforce also announced its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat the expectations of analysts.
Earnings: 66 cents per share, adjusted, vs. 56 cents per share as expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Revenue: $4.85 billion, vs. $4.75 billion as expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.
In a statement, Salesforce said revenue was up 35% in the quarter, which ended on January 31. In the quarter, Salesforce had announced it would use loud infrastructure from competitor Microsoft. The customer relationship management giant promoted Bret Taylor, an executive who arrived at the company in 2016 through its Quip acquisition, to Chief Operating Officer.
