Shares of Salesforce Inc. fell Monday following the second executive departure to be announced in less than a week. This time, it was the head of Slack Technologies, which the customer-relationship-management software giant recently acquired.
Salesforce
CRM,
shares fell nearly 8%, to an intraday low of $133.36, over the trading session after the company confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that Slack co-founder and chief executive Stewart Butterfield was leaving the company and that Lidiane Jones, who is part of the Salesforce executive team, would take over for him.
“Stewart is an incredible leader who created an amazing, beloved company in Slack,” a Salesforce representative told MarketWatch in emailed comments. “He has helped lead the successful integration of Slack into Salesforce, and today Slack is woven into the Salesforce Customer 360 platform.”
The statement continued: “Stewart also was instrumental in choosing Lidiane Jones as the next Slack CEO to lead it into its next chapter. Lidiane has a strong background in customer and enterprise tech and has been among Salesforce’s leadership for over three years. We’re grateful for Stewart and excited for Lidiane as she takes over the reins of Slack.”
Salesforce closed its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack on July 21.
Last week, Salesforce announced that Bret Taylor, the company’s co-chief executive, is departing at the end of January, leaving Marc Benioff as sole CEO.
