Welcome back to Tech Chronicle. I’m not looking for a co-writer for this newsletter, but maybe you could persuade a friend to become a co-reader?
Copacetic or co-pathetic?
Well, that’s one less co-CEO arrangement we have to worry about.
With Keith Block stepping down from his joint chief role at Salesforce, Marc Benioff is back fully in charge, and we no longer have to find awkward locutions to avoid having to explain the whole co-CEO thing.
Block’s departure seems friendly, and he’s staying as an adviser for 12 months (read: continuing to vest stock compensation). But I never quite got the co-CEO thing, since Benioff remained the one thing most people could remember about Salesforce if pressed.
Studies of dual CEO arrangements generally agree they can work, if structured correctly, which means each co-CEO staying in his or her lane. For Block, that was sales and operations, leaving Benioff in charge of product and showmanship.
Benioff once compared his partnership with Block to a marriage, saying “we’ve exchanged our vows.” There might be something to the marital analogy: Like spouses who watch each other’s spending, studies have found that co-CEOs can serve as a check on each other, reining in impulses to, say, go on an acquisition spree. Then again, Salesforce gave Block a car worth $211,703 and a watch worth $86,243 after he was named co-CEO. Who will watch the watchmen, indeed.
Other examples of shared leadership in tech are rare. The triumvirate that ran Google for years — “adult supervision” Eric Schmidt and co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — has fallen away, with first Schmidt then Page and Brin quitting, leaving Sundar Pichai in charge of not just Google but now of parent company Alphabet as well. Safra Catz and Mark Hurd were both CEO of Oracle (Oracle didn’t like the “co-CEO” term) until Hurd’s death in October.
Then there’s Jack Dorsey, who’s doing the opposite of co-CEO-ing, continuing to split his time between Twitter and Square.
I think co-CEO arrangements will remain rare at the top ranks of technology companies. Employees, partners and investors like to know who’s really in charge. The lone CEO may want someone to help shoulder the load, but top executives are well-compensated for their burdens.
And Benioff won’t hurt for executive counsel: He has four — count them! — presidents. Soon to be five: Tucked away in the announcement of Block’s departure was the appointment of a new president for international sales.
— Owen Thomas, othomas@sfchronicle.com
Quote of the week
“HQ didn’t die of natural causes. It was poisoned with a lethal cocktail of incompetence, arrogance, short-sightedness and sociopathic delusion.” — Former HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky on the mobile-phone game show startup’s failure
Coming up
Square and Box report earnings Wednesday. Hope everything’s at the right angle.
What I’m reading
Brian Fung on “the 26 words that created the internet” — and a push to overturn them. (CNN Business)
Roland Li on how drone photos over the Golden Gate Bridge are likely illegal — and Instagram turns a blind eye. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Andrew Hawkins on the surprising reason Uber and Lyft rides generate more pollution, not less. (the Verge)
Tech Chronicle is a thrice-weekly newsletter from Owen Thomas, The Chronicle’s business editor, and the rest of the tech team. Follow along on Twitter: @techchronicle and Instagram: @techchronicle
"Ceo" - Google News
February 26, 2020 at 07:00PM
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Co-CEOs: It rarely takes two to run a company - San Francisco Chronicle
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