Salesforce, a software giant with a notoriously woke CEO, plans to lay off around 10 percent of its workforce, which would come to about 8,000 employees. It is the latest layoff by one of the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe.
Salesforce, the largest private employer in San Francisco, has decided to shut down a number of offices, saying the company has grown too much during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, according to a regulatory filing obtained by San Francisco Chronicle.
Salesforce chairman Marc Benioff (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
“As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we’re now facing, and I take responsibility for that,” the notoriously left-wing CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, wrote in a letter to employees.
“The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions,” Benioff added.
The job cuts are “another blow to the city’s struggling downtown core and office market, where vacancy is a record high 27%,” San Francisco Chronicle noted.
The cloud computing giant laid off hundreds of salespeople late last year. Additionally, some top executives are also leaving, such as co-CEO Bret Taylor, who will resign at the end of the month. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is also leaving Salesforce this month.
In September, Benioff threatened to pull his software company’s operations out of Republican-run states if their policies do not align with his liberal worldview, specifically regarding abortion.
Last year, following the events of January 6, 2021, Salesforce — which was also the company behind the RNC’s email provider — had prevented then-President Donald Trump and Republicans from using “our services in any way that could lead to violence.” The Trump campaign was then banned from being able to send emails.
In 2020, Benioff stood in stunned silence for ten seconds after being asked a question about his company’s lack of policy on political tolerance and viewpoint discrimination at Salesforce’s annual investor meeting.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.