Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took 10-day detox trip after sacking about 7000 employees
2 min read 16 Feb 2023, 10:55 AM ISTMarc Benioff in the interview also admitted that laying off thousands of employees during a two-hour call wasn't a good idea.
PremiumAfter laying off 10 percent of its workforce, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff went on a 10-day digital detox trip. The CEO told The New York Times that went on a 10 day trip to French Polynesia.
"We’re so addicted to our devices (at least I am) that it’s very freeing to leave them all behind for a while!" the CEO told New York Times in a text message.
So what is a Digital Detox? It is a time when an individual voluntarily refrains from using his/her digital devices such as smartphone, computer, or his or her social media platforms.
Also Read: IT layoffs: These are the most 'riskiest, 'safest' jobs in tech industry
Benioff in the interview also admitted that laying off thousands of employees during a two-hour call wasn't a good idea. "We were trying to explain the unexplainable. It's hard to have a call like that with such a large group and have it be effective, and we paid a price," he said.
On 4 January, the Salesforce had said it plans to cut jobs by 10 percent and close some offices, after rapid pandemic hiring left it with a bloated workforce amid an economic slowdown.
The cloud-based software firm had said that the job cuts would lead to about $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion in charges, while only about $800 million to $1 billion will be recorded in the fourth quarter.
Companies from Meta Platforms Inc to Amazon.com Inc have slashed thousands of jobs in the past year, in preparation for a recession, expected as a result of aggressive interest rate hikes by global central banks to curb inflation. Businesses that relied on cloud services during the pandemic are now trying to reduce expenses and are delaying new projects, hurting companies such as Salesforce and Microsoft Corp.
In a letter to employees, the CEO had wrote, "The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions."
"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."
Salesforce had nearly 80,000 employees at the end of the third quarter, up from about 70,000 a year earlier. The company said in its quarterly regulatory filing that it increased headcount "to meet the higher demand for services"
William Blair analyst Arjun Bhatia had said that the move puts Salesforce in a good position to meet its 2026 target of 25 percent operating margin but the macro backdrop could pose risk to its $50 billion revenue target. "There is high likelihood of right-sizing by other software firms," RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria said
Earlier on 27 January, the company appointed Carnival Corp Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald to its board. The cloud-based software firm has also appointed Mastercard Chief Financial Officer Sachin Mehra and the chief executive officer of hedge fund ValueAct Capital Mason Morfit to its board.
(With inputs from agencies)
