Salesforce Co-CEO Model May Have Cost Benioff Likely Successors

Bret Taylor was supposed to be the future of Salesforce Inc. In his rapid ascent to co-chief executive officer, he led major acquisitions and product rollouts, and managed relationships with Salesforce’s most important clients. He did all this while sparring with Elon Musk in his side gig as board chairman of Twitter Inc.

Most of the C-suite already reported to Taylor, 42. If founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff ever stepped aside, Taylor was the obvious choice to replace him. But that changed when Taylor announced he would resign at the end of January to “return to his entrepreneurial roots.”

Language ...