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Misleading
This article is MISLEADING. Marc Benioff did NOT invent cloud computing. He is just mass producing (or, in this case, "offering") it like McDonalds.
ask123 (
talk)
19:14, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
---
I am just figuring out howto mark it as stub, obviously it is not enciclopedic style, if not pure (self)-promotionreply
The second paragraph focused on philanthropy seemed suspiciously out of place especially considering there's an entire section devoted to it, so I moved/merged any citations into the relevant philanthropic contributions section and removed the entire second paragraph from the lead. Marc Benioff Edit by Eganist at 04:03, 13 April 2019 - feel free to review.
Eganist (
talk)
04:12, 13 April 2019 (UTC)reply
Professionally Edited?
Interesting details in some of the citations e.g. the one I just named "forbes-best-co-list" -- the citation about Salesforce being a Best Company to work at is placed over Salesforce's description as a cloud computing company. This purpose can be served by the forbes-profile citation, so I went ahead and made the edit removing the forbes-best-co-list citation since it's entirely irrelevant to the point being cited. But the point I'm making is that in combination with the charitable giving model plugged into the lead as well as the reference to the best companies list, it seems like this article was likely professionally edited and needs a few passes by other unbiased editors. I'm a novice editor, though, so I'd encourage others to review my edits. Marc Benioff Edit by Eganist at 04:06, 13 April 2019 - feel free to review.
Eganist (
talk)
04:12, 13 April 2019 (UTC)reply
Influence and honors
This list of recognitions is too promotional for my taste. Sure, Benioff has influence and has received honors; that's the nature of being a billionaire CEO. But since the article's neutrality is disputed, I'd recommend deleting this entire section.
FishAndChips36 (
talk)
12:47, 15 September 2021 (UTC)reply
Edit Request
This
edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.
Hello! I’m Anna. I work for Salesforce. I have some edits to request for this article. I’ve tried to make them as readable as possible, so I’ve shown a before and after version. Please let me know if I could improve the way I make requests or if you have any questions! I look forward to working with the Wikipedia community on improving this article!
I have five requests.
1: In the first section, please add information about Benioff’s net worth as reported by Bloomberg, as shown below.
New:
In September 2018, Benioff acquired Time.[3] As of February 2022, Benioff had an estimated net worth of US$8.31 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[1]
2: In the Career section, please add information about Time Ventures, Benioff’s memberships in Business Roundtable and the Business Council, and Benioff’s co-CEO status, as shown below:
New:
On September 16, 2018, Marc and his wife Lynne bought Time for $190 million.[3]
In 2019, Benioff started Time Ventures, a venture capital fund that has invested in multiple companies, including
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Universal Hydrogen and NCX.[2][3][4][5][6] In 2021, two companies Time Venture backed, Planet Labs and IonQ, went public.[7][8][9]
Benioff is a member of Business Roundtable, an advocacy group of CEOs, and the Business Council.[10][11]
In November 2021, Benioff became co-CEO of Salesforce when Bret Taylor's promotion to co-CEO was announced.[12]
Original:
On September 16, 2018, Marc and his wife Lynne bought Time for $190 million.[3]
3: In the Co-written Work section, please state that the 2019 book became a New York Times bestseller, as shown below.
New:
In 2019, he again co-wrote Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change, with Monica Langley.[19] The book became a New York Times bestseller.[13]
Original:
In 2019, he again co-wrote Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change, with Monica Langley.[19]
4: Please retitle the “Influence and Honors” section to “Recognition,” and include Benioff’s honors from Harvard Business Review, CNN Business, GLAAD, the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, and Variety Magazine, as shown below.
New:
“Recognition”
…
In 2016, Fortune magazine named him one of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders."[27] He was recognized as one of the 10 Best-Performing CEOs by Harvard Business Review and as the CNN Business CEO of 2020.[14][15] Benioff has also been honored by GLAAD, the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative and by Variety Magazine with its EmPOWerment Award.[16][17][18]
Original:
“Influence and Honors”
…
In 2016, Fortune magazine named him one of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders."[27]
5: Please add subsections and new information to the Philanthropy section as follows. I have inserted italics around new information. New sources are included as well.
In addition to founding Salesforce in 1999, Benioff also founded the Salesforce Foundation. The foundation uses a "1-1-1" approach to corporate philanthropy, where the company gives one percent of employee time as volunteer hours, one percent of its product and one percent of its revenue to charitable causes.[19][20]
“Health Care”
In 2010, the Benioffs donated $100 million to UCSF Children's Hospital.[33] In 2014, they donated an additional $100 million to the hospital and $50 million to fund research on premature birth.[33] In 2019, the Benioffs donated $25 million to UCSF to create the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine; $10 million to Stanford for the Microbiome Therapies Initiative;[21] and $35 million to establish a Prostate Cancer Research Initiative at UCSF.[22]
“Sustainability”
In 2016, Benioff announced a $10 million donation to the University of California - Santa Barbara to establish the Benioff Ocean Initiative.[23] In 2017, the Benioffs partnered with the US National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to form the Pacific Islands Research and Conservation Programme.[24]
In January 2020, Benioff announced that he and his wife would provide financial backing for 1t.org to support a global initiative to plant and conserve 1 trillion trees over the next decade.[25] In October 2020, Marc and Lynne Benioff were founding partners of Prince William's Earthshot Prize, a program for finding solutions to environmental issues.[34] In October 2021, Benioff pledged a $200 million donation to plant trees and fund ecologically-focused entrepreneurs.[35] Salesforce also donated $100 million to the same causes.[35][36]
They are also founding members of the World Economic Forum's Friends of Ocean Action initiative, providing approximately $11 million in funding.[26]
“Homelessness”
In 2019, the Benioffs donated $30 million to UCSF to establish the
Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative to study the impact of homelessness, housing, and health.[37]
“COVID-19"
In March 2020, Benioff procured 50 million pieces of personal protective equipment for hospitals and COVID-19 first responders in the United States.[27] In April 2020, Benioff donated more than $1 million to Give2SF COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund.[28] In April 2021, Benioff and Salesforce sent a plane filled with medical supplies to India to help the country handle the COVID-19 pandemic.[29]
Benioff and his wife have been recognized as top philanthropists** by Forbes and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.[29][30][31][32]
The "Philanthropy" section reads as disorganized to me: it's organized partly chronologically, and partly by topic. I suggest incorporating some subsections presenting content already in the article. This is nuanced, but I've mocked up what this could look like below. The first paragraph of the current section is retained as an introductory paragraph, with a line pulled from the end of the current fifth paragraph and one sentence from the third paragraph that was focused on a separate topic. The current second and fourth paragraphs are combined into a "Healthcare" subsection. The third and fifth paragraphs form a "Sustainability" subsection. Finally, the sixth paragraph is a "Hawaii" subsection. (Arguably this could fit under "Healthcare", but I think it fits better with the additional content I propose later in this request.)
proposed Philanthropy subsections
In addition to founding Salesforce in 1999, Benioff also founded the Salesforce Foundation. The foundation uses a "1-1-1" approach to corporate philanthropy, where the company gives one percent of employee time as volunteer hours, one percent of its product and one percent of its revenue to charitable causes.[5][6][7]
In 2010, the Benioffs donated $100 million to
UCSF Children's Hospital. In 2014, they donated an additional $100 million to the hospital and $50 million to fund research on premature birth. In 2019, the Benioffs donated $25 million to UCSF to create the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine; $10 million to
Stanford University for the Microbiome Therapies Initiative;[13] and $35 million to establish a Prostate Cancer Research Initiative at
University of California, San Francisco.[14]
In March 2020, Benioff procured 50 million pieces of personal protective equipment for hospitals and
COVID-19 first responders in the United States.[15] In April 2020, Benioff donated more than $1 million to Give2SF COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund.[16] In April 2021, Benioff and Salesforce sent a plane filled with medical supplies to India to help the country handle the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]
In October 2020, Marc and Lynne Benioff were founding partners of
Prince William's
Earthshot Prize, a program for finding solutions to environmental issues.[21] In October 2021, Benioff pledged a $200 million donation to plant trees and fund ecologically focused entrepreneurs.[22] Salesforce also donated $100 million to the same causes.[22][23] In 2021, they were founding members of the World Economic Forum's Friends of Ocean Action initiative, providing approximately $11 million in funding.[19]
Hawaii
In 2024, the Benioffs donated a total of $150 million towards Hawaii hospitals that will link
Hawaii Pacific Health system (HPH) with Hilo Medical Center (HMC) and the UCSF Health. $100 million will be used toward the redevelopment of the new Straub Hospital campus in Honolulu, part of HPH, slated for completion in 2026; $50 million will go towards revamping the aging Hilo Medical Center on the Hawaii island. HPH intends to collaborate with HMC in physician co-recruitment efforts on the Hawaii island, while UCSF Health, specifically and
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, will provide clinical expertise outreach efforts in oncology and neurology for patients needing specialized care at these Hawaii facilities. Both Straub and HMC will rename their hospitals to Straub Benioff Medical Center and Hilo Benioff Medical Center, respectively, in recognition of the Benioffs.[24]
Add to the end of the first paragraph of "Philanthropy" (after "...one percent of its revenue to charitable causes."):
Benioff and
Scott Farquhar founded Pledge 1%, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on corporate giving,[25] in 2014.[26] As of 2023, the organization had secured pledges from more than 18,000 companies.[27]
Add to the "Sustainability" subsection of "Philanthropy":
Marc and Lynne Benioff pledged another $60 million to expand the Benioff Ocean Initiative – now the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory – in September 2022, bringing their total support for UC Santa Barbara's ocean programs to $88 million.[28] The donation included funds to expand the Whale Safe program[29] using technology to help prevent collisions between ships and whales.[30] In May 2023, Stanford launched a new "ecopreneurship" program for students working on climate-related projects, supported by a sizable gift from the Benioffs.[31]
Add to the "Hawaii" subsection of "Philanthropy":
Benioff has long expressed an affinity for Hawaii,[32] often citing ʻohana as a component of Salesforce company culture.[33][3] In 2023, Marc and Lynne Benioff contributed $5 million to the Hawaii Healthcare Education Loan Repayment Program to alleviate student loan debt for medical professionals working in Hawaii.[34] The Benioffs donated $1 million to the West Maui Improvement Foundation to buy a
modular fire station for
Olowalu in May 2024.[35] Benioff's donations beginning in 2017 provided half the funding for Hawaii fire departments to purchase two new helicopters, announced in June 2024.[36] The Benioffs also partnered with the Sayre Foundation to bring a rescue boat to Hawaii and donate 12 firetrucks.[24][37] The Benioffs have pledged $12 million to the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation over a five-year period beginning in 2022 to support cleanup of the
Midway Atoll.[38]
In December 2023, Marc and Lynne Benioff donated 282 acres of land and $7 million to the
Hilo-based nonprofit Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation to build affordable housing near Waimea.[39] Another donation of 158 acres was announced in June 2024, having been held since purchase until the nonprofit confirmed it could use the full acreage.[40] According to a Benioff spokesperson, as of March 2024 the Benioffs have given away nearly 75 percent of the total land they had purchased in Hawaii and over 90 percent of the land purchased since 2020.[41][42] The Benioffs' total donations in the state exceed $250 million as of June 2024.[33]
Benioff's land purchases in Hawaii are also mentioned at the end of the "Career" section, which feels like an odd place for that information; it may make more sense consolidated with the above. Happy to suggest specific language if helpful.