Global CRM provider Salesforce has announced that Bret Taylor will step down as vice chair and co-CEO of Salesforce, effective January 31, 2023.

At that point, Marc Benioff will be chair and CEO of the company.

“I am grateful for six fantastic years at Salesforce. Marc was my mentor well before I joined Salesforce and the opportunity to partner with him to lead the most important software company in the world is career-defining. After a lot of reflection, I’ve decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots.  Salesforce has never been more relevant to customers, and with its best-in-class management team and the company executing on all cylinders, now is the right time for me to step away,” said Taylor.

Taylor, 42, was elevated to co-CEO a year ago (on November 30, 2021) after serving two years as Salesforce's president and chief operating officer. He joined Salesforce in 2016 when it acquired cloud-based word processing app provider Quip, a company he founded in 2012.  Before Quip, Taylor sold his social network FriendFeed to Facebook and helped to create Google Maps.

Benioff called Taylor’s decision to step down as “bittersweet. “He made his mark on Salesforce as an incredible technologist, leader and friend to us all. Bret founded two incredible companies so it’s understandable why he wants to return to his entrepreneurial roots. I’m excited to see his next chapter unfold, as I’ll always be his biggest champion and he’ll always be part of the Salesforce ‘Ohana,” he added.