CEO of Salesforce got trapped by giving a statement, friend became enemy and enemy gave support

Sometimes even a small thing creates such a big mess that it becomes difficult to handle. Something similar happened with Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, one of the world’s largest tech companies. He said such a thing about his own city San Francisco, which created an earthquake in the world of politics as well as business.

What was that thing over which there was so much uproar?

The story began at Salesforce’s annual event ‘Dreamforce’, which was taking place in San Francisco. Just before the event, Marc Benioff said that there is a shortage of police in the city, and if the National Guard (ie the army) had to be called in for security, he would welcome it.

As soon as he said this, an uproar broke out.

Let us tell you that some time ago the Trump government had sent the National Guard to cities like Portland and Chicago, which was strongly opposed. So as soon as Benioff endorsed it, people freaked out.

When we turned against ourselves

Benioff’s statement sparked outrage:

• The leaders told lies: The Governor of California and major San Francisco leaders immediately called a press conference and said, “We don’t need an army here, crime is going down in our city.”
• Biggest shock: The biggest blow to Benioff came when his old friend and famous investor Ron Conway, who invested money in companies like Google-Airbnb, resigned from the board of the Salesforce Foundation. “Our principles are no longer the same,” he wrote bluntly in an email.

When enemies extended the hand of friendship

On one hand, people associated with the Democratic Party were criticizing Benioff (whom Benioff has always supported), while on the other hand, the Republican Party and Trump’s supporters supported him.

• Venture capitalist David Sachs, who is part of Trump’s campaign and is also a close friend of Elon Musk, invited Benioff to his party. “If the Democrats don’t want you, welcome to the Republican Party,” he wrote on X (Twitter).
• On this occasion, Elon Musk also called San Francisco a ‘city of drug zombies’.
• What’s more, Donald Trump himself also said that the situation in San Francisco is very bad and there may be a need to send the National Guard there.

apologized at the end

When there was an uproar all around, Marc Benioff realized that he had made a big mistake. He wrote a long post on X and apologized for his statement.

He wrote, “After listening to everyone and after a successful event, I feel there is no need for the National Guard to keep San Franciscans safe. That is the responsibility of city and state leaders. What I said was out of concern for my event and I apologize for the inconvenience it caused.”