WEBVTT - Marc Benioff Talks Philanthropy, AI

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.

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<v Speaker 2>Mark, thank you as always for joining us. You are

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<v Speaker 2>at a big groundbreaking ceremony today at Strab Benioff Medical

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<v Speaker 2>Center in Honolulu. This is just one of many hospitals

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<v Speaker 2>that you've now contributed to in Hawaii. And if I

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<v Speaker 2>got my math right, this gift means you have given

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<v Speaker 2>now four hundred and fifty million dollars to healthcare in

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<v Speaker 2>both Hawaii and San Francisco. Talk to us about the

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<v Speaker 2>thrust of these hospital gifts. What are you really trying

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<v Speaker 2>to achieve here and how does it fit into your

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<v Speaker 2>broader philosophy.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I'm so grateful to be here with you today, Emily,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's wonderful to be here in Oahu. I think

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<v Speaker 1>this is your home town. Is that right?

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<v Speaker 2>It is? Yes, indeed it is.

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<v Speaker 1>And I'll tell you we're doing something exciting here. We're

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<v Speaker 1>breaking ground at a new hospital, which is the Straw

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<v Speaker 1>Benioff Hospital here, and we just broke ground two weeks

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<v Speaker 1>ago at the new Helo Medical Center. And I'll tell

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<v Speaker 1>you it's great to be doing philanthropy and Hawaii. We've

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<v Speaker 1>done it for so many years in the Bay Area,

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<v Speaker 1>as you know, We've built two amazing children's hospitals in

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<v Speaker 1>San Francisco and Oakland, and now we're bringing that great

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<v Speaker 1>expertise here to Hawaii as well. It's really an incredible

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<v Speaker 1>trinity that we've created between Heilo Oahu and also UCSF

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<v Speaker 1>and bringing it together. Well, this is going to improve

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<v Speaker 1>the health of the Hawaiians. That's what we're all about.

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<v Speaker 2>Talk to us about the connection between the hospitals in

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<v Speaker 2>Hawaii and San Francisco, because I understand now there's an

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<v Speaker 2>ability to share care and share information, you know, and

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<v Speaker 2>improve the quality of care that folks get in Hawaii.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, Emily, as you know very well as a native Hawaiian,

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<v Speaker 1>that when you're here in Hawaii, especially if you're in

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<v Speaker 1>a neighbor island, you're living in paradise, but you also

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<v Speaker 1>realize you might have made a trade that you may

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<v Speaker 1>not have the same level of healthcare as you might have,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, where you are right now in San Francisco. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we want the best of both worlds. We

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<v Speaker 1>want the idea that you can have great healthcare here

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<v Speaker 1>in Hawaii and also live in paradise. And the way

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<v Speaker 1>that we're doing that is not only creating state of

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<v Speaker 1>the art medical facilities and recruiting world class physicians here

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<v Speaker 1>to Hawaii, but linking UCSF and also these Hawaiian hospitals together,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's absolutely critical because look, we're going to be

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<v Speaker 1>able to do great things here, but there will be limits,

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<v Speaker 1>of course to what we can do in Hawaii, which

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<v Speaker 1>is why the integration with UCSF, which is of course

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<v Speaker 1>the University of California, San Francisco, probably the premier medical

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<v Speaker 1>center in the United States, is now part of Hawaiian Healthcare.

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<v Speaker 2>You've talked for many years about the requirement really responsibility

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<v Speaker 2>to give back when you can, and you've talked a

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<v Speaker 2>lot about folks not giving enough in the San Francisco community.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, in Hawaii, you've made a number of property purchases,

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<v Speaker 2>have a number of tech billionaires like Larry Ellison who

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<v Speaker 2>now owns almost all of Leni, and Mark Zuckerberg on

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<v Speaker 2>Kawhi and Jeff Bezos on Maui. Are all of those

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<v Speaker 2>people giving enough, doing enough to give back to their communities.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, different people who live here like to do different things.

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<v Speaker 1>Some people told me that I like to buy a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of land here. That's preposterous. I have not done

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<v Speaker 1>that I don't own hundreds of acres. I did buy

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds of acres for an affordable housing agency in Heilo,

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<v Speaker 1>So that is some land that went to help Hawaiians

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<v Speaker 1>get homes. But I'm very happy just having my own

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<v Speaker 1>personal residence here. But what I really enjoy is giving back.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think you know that in the Bay Area,

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<v Speaker 1>not just through Salesforce that's given back hundreds of millions

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<v Speaker 1>of dollars in the Bay Area, including being the largest

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<v Speaker 1>provider to the local San Francisco Oakland public schools, but

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<v Speaker 1>also to the hospitals. And this is so important to

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<v Speaker 1>so we can give to our local public hospitals, our

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<v Speaker 1>local public schools, even our local public parks. I think

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<v Speaker 1>all of us can do so much more to give back.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, it's probably the most fun I've had

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<v Speaker 1>as the CEO of Salesforce. I mean, it's been an

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<v Speaker 1>amazing journey becoming the third largest software company in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>I think, you know we're going to you know, we

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<v Speaker 1>said we're going to do about thirty eight billion dollars

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<v Speaker 1>in revenue this year. Well that's been an amazing journey.

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<v Speaker 1>But the fun part has been giving back and that's

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<v Speaker 1>why I continue to do it and why we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to continue to do a lot more of it in

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<v Speaker 1>the future as well.

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<v Speaker 2>Well. Since you mentioned it, and you've now been back

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<v Speaker 2>quote unquote as sole CEO of Salesforce for the last

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<v Speaker 2>eighteen months, weathered activist investors, you know, talk to us

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<v Speaker 2>a little bit about the learnings in terms of taking

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<v Speaker 2>the rains, retaking the reins in the age of AI.

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<v Speaker 1>I think I might be one of the few CEOs

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<v Speaker 1>that actually really enjoyed working with these activist investors. I

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<v Speaker 1>had never heard so many great new ideas in my career,

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<v Speaker 1>including such out of the box thinking. And look, we

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<v Speaker 1>were able to really transform and evolve Salesforce over the

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<v Speaker 1>last year, and you can see it with our incredible

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<v Speaker 1>financial results that we had last year and our idea

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<v Speaker 1>that we're able to continue to move forward with these

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<v Speaker 1>incredible new characteristics of our company and our last earnings result.

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<v Speaker 1>We've even talked about that we've started to create a

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<v Speaker 1>dividend that's something that was beyond my imagination even just

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<v Speaker 1>a few years ago. So it's exciting to be the

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<v Speaker 1>number one CRM to help companies connect with our customers

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<v Speaker 1>in a whole new way. Right now, we're about to

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<v Speaker 1>enter an incredible new world, which is the world of

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<v Speaker 1>artificial intelligence and how it's going to transform these customer relationships.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think we're about to see some technology that

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<v Speaker 1>we never thought we'd see in our lifetimes. We're going

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<v Speaker 1>to see just some incredible new ways to run our businesses.

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<v Speaker 2>Competition and CRM is fierce. Mark You've got Service now

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<v Speaker 2>trying to poach a bunch of Salesforce employees. They stopped

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<v Speaker 2>using Slack after you bought it. They're trying to build

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<v Speaker 2>more of a consumer brand. They started their own trailblazer program.

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<v Speaker 2>Are they trying to pick a fight with you?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, they're an interesting company, you know. I just think

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<v Speaker 1>they need to be careful. They might be getting a

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<v Speaker 1>little ahead of their skis. We just replaced them at Disney.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, we already had run Disney stores and Disney

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<v Speaker 1>Guides in the Park, and we had done a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of things with Disney with their customer relationships. But I

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<v Speaker 1>think everybody knows that when they went to have Disney

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<v Speaker 1>Plus and wanted to have a call center and they

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<v Speaker 1>chose that company, well, unfortunately, Salesforce had to come in

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<v Speaker 1>and rescue the entire operation and rebuild all of the

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<v Speaker 1>customer success and call centers for Disney, and which was

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<v Speaker 1>at that point had been called out as a marquee

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<v Speaker 1>customer of their as well. Salesforce is actually a tremendous

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<v Speaker 1>company that does real customer success and delivers solutions in

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<v Speaker 1>sales service marketing for so many great companies around the world. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, obviously standardized the Disney, but for so many

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<v Speaker 1>other great organizations, banks, insurance companies all over the world.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think we're doing pretty well on our own.

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<v Speaker 2>Alphabet and Hobspot. Google and Hobspots are in talks to merge.

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<v Speaker 2>How significantly would that disrupt the CRM market?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I don't I haven't really heard too much about that. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>these are both great companies and customers of ours, and

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<v Speaker 1>so we work with them very closely, and it'd be

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<v Speaker 1>very interesting to see what would happen. But I really

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<v Speaker 1>can't understand it because I actually have only heard the

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<v Speaker 1>rumors that you've heard.

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<v Speaker 2>It's Bloomberg reporting. But we'll leave it there. Last question,

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<v Speaker 2>I'd like love to ask you about TikTok if I may,

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<v Speaker 2>because you've been such a vocal critic of social media

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<v Speaker 2>and it's impact on children, it's impact on people. I'm

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<v Speaker 2>curious what you think of the TikTok divestment law and

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<v Speaker 2>if Salesforce would be at all interested in joining a

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<v Speaker 2>coalition of companies interested in buying TikTok.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, we're not really a consumer company. We drive a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of these consumer companies, so many of them are

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<v Speaker 1>our customers. I know that, you know that's been an

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<v Speaker 1>amazing journey. But I think that when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>social media, and I've said this before, we have to

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<v Speaker 1>look very seriously at how it's being managed and how

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<v Speaker 1>it's being regulated. There's certain US regulations that kind of

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<v Speaker 1>give these social media companies a free ride even if

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<v Speaker 1>their platforms are misused. I think that needs to be

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<v Speaker 1>directly addressed. I've talked about that, I think with you

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<v Speaker 1>several times. And look, this is a serious world. And

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<v Speaker 1>you talked about AI. AI is going to be able

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<v Speaker 1>to create a lot of misinformation, and if we don't

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<v Speaker 1>have a good understanding of how that's being used with

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<v Speaker 1>social media, we could end up in this place that

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<v Speaker 1>we don't want to be. You know, I'm a huge

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<v Speaker 1>proponent of free speech, but I am not a huge

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<v Speaker 1>proponent of all speech. You know, I don't think that

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<v Speaker 1>the ideas that hate speech or misinformation should really not

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<v Speaker 1>be tolerated in some of these platforms. It's not trust,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not tolerated at Bloomberg, it's not tolerated at Time

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<v Speaker 1>or other media organizations. It shouldn't be tolerated on these

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<v Speaker 1>social media networks as well.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, Mark Benioff in Honolulu, I'll let you get

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<v Speaker 2>back to that groundbreaking ceremony. The CEO of Salesforce Mark,

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<v Speaker 2>as always, thank you so much for joining us,