Salesforce stock drops amid departures of co-CEO, Slack CEO

Shares of Salesforce are down on news that Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is set to exist Salesforce in January along with co-CEO Bret Taylor.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: Let's start with Salesforce. That stock in the red this afternoon. We're looking at losses-- look at that-- of just around 7 and 1/2%. The stock falling on news and reports that Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield is leaving the company.

Now Butterfield joined Salesforce through its $27 billion acquisition of Slack, which closed in a mid 2021. Butterfield's exit follows a surprising announcement earlier this month that Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor was stepping down from the company at the end of January, leaving Marc Benioff as the sole CEO. There was also some news on their guidance that put further pressure on the stock going back to last week.

But Josh, when you take a look at this name, Stewart Butterfield, obviously a very recognizable name, given the fact that he was a founder of Slack. He is leaving the company. Bret Taylor exiting at the end of January. I think a lot of questions here from investors just in terms of what this means for the direction of the company.

JOSH SCHAFER: Oh, definitely, Seana. I think that's sort of what people are wondering right now, right, is where are things headed for Salesforce. And to be frank, investors never like to see a founder leave, right?

SEANA SMITH: Yeah.

JOSH SCHAFER: To see a founder leave a brand like Slack, I think, is always going to probably weigh on the stock the day of. And of course, what does this mean for Marc Benioff? Probably more work in the short-term, right? And he's taking on a lot right now. So I think people are sort of wondering how that's going to go for him.