{"id":56971,"date":"2024-06-27T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T19:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nlpc.org\/?p=56971"},"modified":"2024-06-19T14:11:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T18:11:47","slug":"marc-benioff-cant-quit-salesforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nlpc.org\/corporate-integrity-project\/marc-benioff-cant-quit-salesforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Marc Benioff Just Can’t Relinquish His Leftist Advocacy Lead Role at Salesforce"},"content":{"rendered":"
On Thursday, National Legal and Policy Center presented a\u00a0proposal<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Salesforce, Inc.<\/a>\u2019s annual shareholder meeting<\/a> that would require the board to implement a policy to require the chair of the board of directors to be an independent member from the CEO.<\/p>\n Marc Benioff<\/a> (pictured above) serves as both Chairman and co-CEO of the company.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s board of directors opposed our proposal, as explained on page 98 in its proxy statement<\/a>. NLPC filed a proxy memo<\/a> with the Securities and Exchange Commission that responded in detail to Salesforce’s opposition to our proposal, and explained further its necessity.<\/p>\n Speaking as sponsor of the resolution was\u00a0Paul Chesser<\/a>, director of NLPC\u2019s\u00a0Corporate Integrity Project<\/a>. A transcript of his three-minute remarks, which you can listen to\u00a0here<\/a>, follows:<\/p>\n For the second year in a row, left-wing activist shareholders who bring voluminous proposals against all the other Big Tech<\/a> companies, have left Salesforce alone<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Liberal investors who routinely attack large tech corporations are going easy on Marc Benioff and Salesforce.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to understand why.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He funds their agendas<\/a>, and they leave him alone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s why we\u2019ve seen Salesforce\u2019s home of San Francisco turn into a disgraceful crime- and homeless-ridden hellhole<\/a>, complete with a poop map<\/a>, thanks to Mr. Benioff\u2019s political policy beliefs that he has advocated<\/a> through his Salesforce leadership.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The only times we see the City-by-the-Bay cleaned up are when a Chinese dictator shows up to give a speech for big-time corporate executives<\/a>, or when Mr. Benioff hosts his annual Dreamforce conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even Gavin Newsom admits this<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was only a year ago that several big-dollar activist investors pressured Mr. Benioff to cut costs and improve efficiencies at Salesforce.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Benioff squeaked by with some changes and concessions, and stock performance temporarily improved, so the activist investors backed off<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now it\u2019s a year later, and Mr. Benioff has just offered up another dismal earnings report<\/a> along with poor guidance, and Salesforce\u2019s stock price immediately plummeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I wonder what those shareholder activists think now?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once again, our warnings<\/a> about Mr. Benioff\u2019s mismanagement and poor priorities<\/a> fell on deaf ears, and shareholders pay the price.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When are voting institutional shareholders finally going to get it?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is par for the course for Mr. Benioff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For years he tried to pull off a co-CEO charade<\/a> at Salesforce.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet time after time his alleged co-CEOs left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Clearly he\u2019s someone that won\u2019t relinquish any power, because his ego won\u2019t let him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No one can work with him at the top, and all we get is chaos and a rollercoaster stock performance as a result.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He has the same problem that Howard Schultz<\/a> did in letting go at Starbucks<\/a>, and that Bob Iger<\/a> is having at Disney<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They can\u2019t help themselves, and neither can Mr. Benioff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a result, their companies and investors suffer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finally, I want to address the falsehood told by the Salesforce board in the proxy statement<\/a>, accusing my organization of refusing to discuss our proposal with the company.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We offered at least three dates to meet to discuss the proposal when we submitted it to Salesforce, within the 30-day requirement under SEC rules.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But instead of engaging us on our offered times or suggesting alternatives within the SEC 30-day window, the Company ignored the SEC\u2019s rules, and waited almost three months before they asked us to meet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is wrong for companies to refuse to abide by SEC guidelines, and then lie about it to try to make proponents look bad.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Please vote FOR<\/strong> Proposal 6.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read NLPC\u2019s proposal for Salesforce, Inc.\u2019s annual shareholder meeting here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read NLPC’s proxy memo filed with the SEC in support of its proposal here<\/a>.<\/p>\n