“I have followed them since I started Salesforce.” He noted Meredith’s corporate focus on volunteerism, “something that is very important to me as well.” “I especially liked Meredith’s core values,” he said. He ignored questions about how much he would invest in Time, whose resources and vision have dwindled over the decades, and whether people should again be worried about the merging of tech and traditional media. Benioff, who will turn 54 this month and whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $6.7 billion, emphasized he was not going to get editorially involved in the magazine. Heralded as a deal that would unite the fledgling digital world with the sturdy physical assets of traditional media, it was a disaster for the ages. In early 2000 - right as Salesforce was starting up - the internet pioneer AOL bought Time Warner for $165 billion. The deal is tech’s second try at Time, the premier American newsmagazine for much of the 20th century. But he agreed to answer questions by text, which he proceeded to do for two hours. He said he did not have a few moments to be interviewed by phone because he was “on crazy Dreamforce lockdown,” a reference to the annual Salesforce convention, which begins next week. “I didn’t realize two weeks ago I was going to buy Time,” he said in an interview late Sunday, a few hours after the deal was announced. It is a development that would have been unthinkable to generations of Time editors.Įven Mr. The longtime summit of East Coast journalism has now, after a stop with temporary owners in Des Moines, been acquired by a Westerner.
This week he stepped out onto a broader stage, purchasing Time magazine with his wife, Lynne, for $190 million. He’s forceful, flamboyant and quotable, a fourth-generation San Franciscan who has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into his city. Benioff, who is 6-foot-5 and 290 pounds, is as hard to miss as his tower.
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Benioff moved Salesforce into it in January, right before his software company became the largest private employer in the city. SAN FRANCISCO - Marc Benioff is like the Salesforce Tower: He looms over this city.Īt 1,070 feet, the tower is the second-tallest building west of the Mississippi.