Marc Benioff
| Marc Benioff | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Salesforce.com |
| Role: | Partner |
| Location: | Bay Area, California |
| Expertise: | Entrepreneur |
| Education: | University of Southern California (B.S. Business Administration, 1986) |
| Website: | Official website |
Marc Benioff is the founder of Salesforce.com, a customer relationship management service for businesses. According to Forbes as of August 2025, Benioff is worth $4.1 billion.[1]
Previously, Benioff served as the senior vice president of Oracle Corporation.[2] He and his wife, Lynne, purchased Time Magazine in 2018.[3]
Background
While at the University of Southern California, Marc Benioff was an intern at Apple, but after graduating he joined Oracle Corporation, a software design company based in California. Benioff spent 13 years at Oracle. He had become senior vice president before leaving the company.[4][2]
In 1999, Benioff founded Salesforce, a customer relationship management service for businesses. The company uses cloud-based technology to allow companies to utilize their customers' information to help better serve them.[2] In 2000, Benioff founded the Salesforce Foundation, a philanthropic venture that utilizes Benioff's "1-1-1 model," in which a company contributes "one percent of [its] product, one percent of [its] equity, and one percent of [its] employee hours back to the communities it serves."[2]
In 2003, President George W. Bush (R) appointed Benioff to the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee.[5]
In 2004, Benioff co-authored the book, Compassionate Capitalism, as well as The Business of Changing the World in 2006, and Behind the Cloud in 2009.[2][6][7]
Work and activities
Political contributions
During Barack Obama's (D) 2012 presidential re-election campaign, Benioff contributed $65,800 to Obama's victory fund. In 2013, Benioff contributed $500,000 to the Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC. In 2015, Benioff contributed $33,400 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.[8]
Benioff hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton (D) during the 2016 election cycle.[9] He contributed to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers during the 2018 election cycle.[9]
Ballot measure activity
Benioff donated $500,000 to support the passage of California Proposition 4, Children's Hospital Bonds Initiative.[10]
Purchase of Time Magazine
In 2018, Benioff and his wife, Lynne, bought Time Magazine for $109 million from Meredith Corp.[11] Benioff said at the time that the magazine was "an important institution that is having a positive global impact on the world and is deeply aligned with our family’s values and we’re delighted to be the new stewards of Time Magazine."[12]
During the 2020 election cycle, Benioff announced he would not be endorsing or fundraising for candidates after purchasing the magazine.[9]
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.
Top influencers by state
Influencers in American politics are power players who help get candidates elected, put through policy proposals, cause ideological changes, and affect popular perceptions. They can take on many forms: politicians, lobbyists, advisors, donors, corporations, industry groups, labor unions, single-issue organizations, nonprofits, to name a few.
In 2015, Ballotpedia identified Marc Benioff as a top influencer by state. We identified top influencers across the country through several means, including the following:
- Local knowledge of our professional staff
- Surveys of activists, thought leaders and journalists from across the country and political spectrum
- Outreach to political journalists in each state who helped refine our lists
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Marc Benioff. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Forbes, "Marc Benioff," accessed August 14, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Salesforce, "Board of Directors," accessed August14, 2025
- ↑ CNN , "Marc Benioff bought Time Magazine to help address a ‘crisis of trust," December 30, 2019
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedlink - ↑ Business Insider , "Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff explains why a Hindu guru and Colin Powell were critical mentors," March 3, 2016
- ↑ Open Road Media, "Compassionate Capitalism," accessed August 14, 2025
- ↑ Amazon.com, "The Business of Changing the World," accessed August 14, 2025
- ↑ FEC, "Marc Benioff," accessed August 14, 2025
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Vox , "Tech billionaire Marc Benioff used to give millions to politicians. Then he bought Time magazine," March 3, 2020
- ↑ California Secretary of State , "YES 4 CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS, YES ON PROPOSITION 4, SPONSORED BY CALIFORNIA CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION," accessed August 14, 2025
- ↑ NPR , "Meredith Corp. To Sell 'Time' Magazine To Salesforce Founder For $190 Million," September 16, 2018
- ↑ CNBC , "Marc Benioff: We bought Time Magazine because ‘business is the greatest platform for change,’" September 25, 2018
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