Marc Benioff
He’s the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Salesforce, one of the world’s largest software companies, which owns the popular messaging service Slack and is worth nearly $300 billion. He also owns Time magazine.
When I ask Benioff about the properties in the anonymous LLCs, things seem to take a turn. He starts speaking more quickly and fidgets with a piece of paper in his hand. He’s reluctant to go through the holdings, and his adviser on the Zoom call jumps in to say we can discuss later.
A couple of days before the interview, Benioff texted the same NPR colleague again, asking for intel on my story. Then he called me and demanded to know the title of this piece. During that call, he also mentioned he knew the exact area where I was staying. Unnerved, I asked how he knew, and he said, “It’s my job. You have a job and I have a job.” During the interview, he brings up more personal details about me and my family.
I leave the meeting disconcerted and still unclear about what exactly is happening with his land in Waimea.
The following day, I drive around with a photographer to take pictures of the town and Benioff’s projects. We go to the property he described as a community center and are confronted by one of his employees. The photographer explains we’re there to take photos of the outside of the building. Shortly afterward, I get a text from Benioff. His employee seemed to think we were “snooping,” and he says he’s escalating the incident to NPR CEO John Lansing. Lansing confirmed he spoke with Benioff, without going into detail — the NPR newsroom operates independently, and the CEO is not involved in editorial decision-making. Benioff didn’t respond to my question about the purpose of this call.
The trolls are out!
Not trolls, just regular people who’ve figured it out.
are you serious lol? in what world would you trust one person with the purchasing power of entire countries?
That’s not what I wrote at all… People honestly lack such basic comprehension skills here.
What I’m saying isn’t even controversial it’s just logically correct…
then what did you write?
it sounds to me like you trust bill gates to use his piles of money for “good”, but the simply fact is nobody should have that much power. would you trust me with all of bill’s money? i promise to use it for good.
the simple fact is that humans are fallible, much like how you and i are not likely to come to an agreement here. so who is to say that bill gates (or any billionaire) has successfully defined “good”? what if he’s wrong? what if he makes a mistake? there’s very few people or entities powerful enough to stop him, and even according to you he is one of the better ones.
being rich and having more than you need is one thing, but billionaires literally have more pull than most of the planet. i don’t see why we should be ok with them having nearly all wealth on earth and “charitably” sprinkling some where they deem fit.