Jim Cramer hinted Saturday that plans for a leadership change at the Salesforce Holding Club (CRM) – led by co-founder Marc Benioff for more than two decades – could be revealed in the near future. . “There’s a good chance that Marc will [soon] announce a successor or Marc will announce that he will [only] as president,” said Jim Saturday during the Club’s first “Annual Meeting” in New York City in front of a live audience. Silicon Valley, now president and CEO, such a development would come after five activist investors — including venerable hedge fund Elliott Management — recently bought shares of the maker. Enterprise software maker, the company will report fourth-quarter earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday as problems, in the hope that fixing them will increase shareholder value. saw five activists target the same company, but the pressure has been on since October, when Jeff Smith’s Starboard Value announced a position in Salesforce, lamenting what they felt had been done. is a “sub-combination of growth and profitability” at the company in recent years.In early January, Salesforce announced a three-way cost-cutting plan. o include layoffs and reductions in office space – moves Jim said were prompted by Starboard. The extent of activist participation became apparent not long after. It is now known that Elliott Management, ValueAct, Jeff Ubben’s Inclusive Capital and Dan Loeb’s Third Point have also built positions within Salesforce. ValueAct CEO Mason Morfit was appointed to Salesforce’s board of directors at the end of January, along with former Carnival cruise ship CEO Arnold Donald and Mastercard chief financial officer, Sachin Mehra. Despite that change, Paul Singer’s Elliott is reportedly planning to nominate his own candidates to Salesforce’s board. CNBC’s David Faber reported last week that Elliott and Salesforce are in talks to avoid a proxy war. It’s not uncommon for tech founders to eventually step aside as the company matures, and questions surrounding a Salesforce succession have swirled for years. While Benioff says he’s “never left” Salesforce, the company has twice appointed an executive to the role of co-CEO. First, it’s Keith Block, who held the role from August 2018 to February 2020. More recently, Bret Taylor served as co-CEO from November 2021 to January 31 of this year. . Salesforce did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Jim’s remarks Saturday. Conclusion It’s no secret Jim has been a Benioff fan and a Salesforce shareholder for the Club for a long time. Jim readily admits that he considers Marc a friend. But he insisted on stage, “I know it’s not a matter of friends. It’s a matter of money,” emphasizing his loyalty to always making money for the Club members. Jim said he wishes the activists would leave Benioff alone. “I advised the activist that one thing you don’t do is do for him [Benioff] wake up that morning and say, ‘I don’t want to do anything with this,'” Jim warns. When it comes to the issue, Jim says Salesforce has a great product, but admits that It’s a tough environment for enterprise software right now. But he says Benioff has made a lot of money for investors over the years and activists should let Benioff do what he wants to do. As a CNBC Investment Club subscriber with Jim Cramer, you’ll receive trading alerts before Jim makes a trade Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling stock. in his charity’s portfolio. If Jim had talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he would have waited 72 hours after issuing a trading warning before making a trade. R RECEIVE ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN RELATED TO THE INVESTMENT CLUB, NO SPECIFIC RESULTS OR GUARANTEED PROFITS.
Marc Benioff, founder, president and chief executive officer of the enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.
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Jim Cramer suggested on Saturday that a plan to change leadership at the Club is in the works Sales force (CRM) — run by co-founder Marc Benioff for more than two decades — could be revealed in the near future.
