Marc Benioff
He’s the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Salesforce, one of the world’s largest software companies, which owns the popular messaging service Slack and is worth nearly $300 billion. He also owns Time magazine.
When I ask Benioff about the properties in the anonymous LLCs, things seem to take a turn. He starts speaking more quickly and fidgets with a piece of paper in his hand. He’s reluctant to go through the holdings, and his adviser on the Zoom call jumps in to say we can discuss later.
A couple of days before the interview, Benioff texted the same NPR colleague again, asking for intel on my story. Then he called me and demanded to know the title of this piece. During that call, he also mentioned he knew the exact area where I was staying. Unnerved, I asked how he knew, and he said, “It’s my job. You have a job and I have a job.” During the interview, he brings up more personal details about me and my family.
I leave the meeting disconcerted and still unclear about what exactly is happening with his land in Waimea.
The following day, I drive around with a photographer to take pictures of the town and Benioff’s projects. We go to the property he described as a community center and are confronted by one of his employees. The photographer explains we’re there to take photos of the outside of the building. Shortly afterward, I get a text from Benioff. His employee seemed to think we were “snooping,” and he says he’s escalating the incident to NPR CEO John Lansing. Lansing confirmed he spoke with Benioff, without going into detail — the NPR newsroom operates independently, and the CEO is not involved in editorial decision-making. Benioff didn’t respond to my question about the purpose of this call.
Bill Gates whose wife divorced him after it came out that he was on Epstein’s plane? Or Bill Gates who spent like 30 years building a monopoly on anti-competitive tactics and used that position to ground any contenders into dust?
Trying to karmicly balance decades of being a shit stain by switching to altruism once you’re old and rich isn’t the same as being a good person.
Or Bill Gates who promoted bullshit pseudoscience and encouraged African men to get circumcised as an “HIV prevention measure” which led to many men then skipping condoms, arguably making the HIV epidemic in Africa even worse?
No no, I think they mean the Bill gates that lobbied heavily to keep RNA vaccine technology private despite the fact that it was developed using public money and could save millions of lives.
M$ under Gates was also hugely about shafting many of the engineering staff working there. These were the Permatemps, people who worked on site alongside ordinary employees, doing the same work, working for the same managers on big products you’ve heard of. But the Permatemps, and I was one of them, didn’t work for M$, we worked for the most part as W2 employees of external staffing companies. OK salaries, basic benefits, but zero equity compensation or job security. Occasionally a permatemp would get hired as a M$ employee and that’s probably what a lot of them were hoping for. I got a small pay-out from the Permatemp lawsuit settlement (see link above) while some of the regular employees around me became M$ Millionaires in their 20s, including my tech lead at the time. But at least I was allowed to shop at the Company Store and got a discount on my copy of Vista! Meanwhile Gates conserved huge amounts of equity and had a big staff he could fire at the drop of a hat, because he didn’t technically employ us in the first place.
They are still doing this in some fashion because I see “Microsoft” jobs come up all the time but when you read the posting you are actually being hired by a staffing agency.
All the big tech companies do it. Google has their red badges—part of Google’s caste system. Meta has contractors (from what I hear they actually treat them really well, just not compensated like a Meta FTE for the same work).
Have you read the book Microserfs? My brother had it, i never read it, but seems like a relevant book for your comment
I’m pretty sure I read it back in the day but had forgotten all about it. I was at M$ around the time it came out and I vaguely recall employees talking about it in a dismissive but not exactly outraged sort of way. Kind of like you might expect if the author hit pretty close to home re: the culture but without it seeming (to the employees) like an attack piece.
Thanks for mentioning the book, it’ll be fun to re-read it after all these years and see how it’s held up. Maybe my library can get an inter-library-loan of a special, limited-edition, BG-autographed version, embellished in gold leaf all over. <checks web> Hmm, Medina doesn’t appear to have a public library, how could that be?
But have you tried negotiating better compensation? You must have not been productive enough.
E: deep black sarcasm circled around the blatantly false economic tenet that higher productivity allows workers to negotiate higher wages.
Ha, wasn’t sure if that was sarcasm or just Trollage at first. Well played! Yes, I am a pathetic, talentless loser, otherwise I’d be having drinks with BG on his jet or lounging on Larry’s yacht or even fly-fishing with a Supreme at some wilderness resort. <hangs head>
I recently had a conversation where worker productivity came up as an argument for why people on average aren’t paid well these days in one country vs another, which is still a standard mainstream economic dogma. However there’s the blatant historical counterexample - the productivity-wage decoupling in the US since the 80s. Productivity has increased a lot since then while wages have remained stagnant. The argument finished shortly after I brought this up and asked why workers were unable to get higher wages when their productivity has clearly increased.
That’s exactly it, as far as I’m concerned. Gates caused more harm by inflicting his monopoly on the world and stifling competition and innovation then he can undo with all his ill gotten gains. As for the Epstein link? JFC. I don’t even want to think about that… The only redeeming feature he has that made him appear closer to human was his ability to hurdle/jump an office chair in his younger days.
Gates did his monopoly slam closer to 15 years, really.
Yes, once you’re a bad person you’re always a bad person.
Again, it’s statements like this which are just ridiculous. People change and if you think Bill Gates is doing a shitty/bad thing then we’re fucked because of the lot he’s by far the most charitable and looking to make the world better.
He’s certainly done more than you or most people on the planet have done to help.
He’s also done more than I or most people on the planet have done to harm. For instance I’ve never flown to Epstein’s Island and raped children. Becoming charitable later in life doesn’t wash away your past and make you suddenly good. Context matters, you simpleton.
There’s a few issues with what you’ve said.
The claims that he has raped children is completely unsubstantiated and is just attacking his character. If there was evidence great. But one ride on a plane is hardly strong evidence.
Have you ever watched or heard of les miserable? I suggest you watch/read it, because yes - people can murder, steal, rape Etc. And that doesn’t mean that they’re an awful person for life. I’m sure you’ve severely hurt people in your life, are you unreedemable because of those few times?
The argument of more harm VS more good is interesting. I personally don’t see it and it would be super hard to substantiate. Having a successful company/monopoly is not in itself bad.
And if billionaires are bad, you could make the argument that Bill Gates stopped another billionaire from taking the helm, so he actually stopped a billionaire which makes him good. It’s all circular bullshit regardless, but until you can show some strong evidence of the wrong he’s done its far easier for me to show you the good.
Holy shit you have no idea what Les Miserables was about! 😂😂😂😂
Here you go since you have no idea what you’re talking about from chatgpt and I’m lazy:
Yes, one of the themes of Les Misérables is that criminals can be redeemed. The novel shows how Jean Valjean, a former convict who spent 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, is able to change his life and become a good person after he receives kindness and forgiveness from a bishop. He then devotes himself to helping others, such as Fantine, Cosette, Marius, and even Javert, his former enemy. The novel suggests that redemption is possible for anyone who is willing to repent and love, and that society should not judge people based on their past mistakes, but rather on their present actions and intentions.
Which is exactly my point… So thanks for showing your ignorance.
Sounds like you got that from ChatGPT. The theme is unjust imprisonment of the poor by the rich. You know, capitalism.
How many inmates does the US have per capita in relation to every other country including communist countries?
Don’t be so lazy that you use an LLM to have your arguments for you. It defeats the point of these being discussion boards.
Yes, I am being lazy because I read books, provide arguments, and get responses like “LOL no u are wrong! Idiot!”
Why would I spend more than 2 minutes replying to that when it’s clear they’ve spent no time thinking through their response and I can easily show they’re wrong?
I get it though, if you don’t have an argument then attack the person for being lazy. Ad hominem attacks are good at changing the topic. But I am still right at end of day.
No because you used chatGPT. The thing I specifically stated that you are skirting around in your response.
If you don’t take the conversation seriously don’t bother having it. And if they are stubborn walk away if they won’t have a conversation in earnest.
Don’t beat your head against the wall and then tell at everyone that they are giving you a headache. You can’t win every conversation. That’s not how they work.
Pure lib-brain. If our society is dependent upon the philanthropy of billionaires, you are right, we ARE fucked. But he isn’t looking to “make the world better,” if that were the case he would be funding a socialist/communist party that would replace the Democrats in the United States, instead he is funding charter schools.
Jesus Chris, if you think a socialist/communist party is anything but terrible you need to look at history.
It’s a great idea but it’s fundamentally flawed and corrupt. Please read some books.
And no, don’t twist my words into saying that we are dependent on billionaires. But pretending they’re bad and are all evil/can’t be part of a solution shows very poor critical thinking skills.
You’re deeply misinformed my friend, and that misinformation has been and still is used for taking more of your (and everyone you know) labor than you receive, and shuttling the excess to the top. Socialism has long standing tradition in the West in the form of democratic parties that have driven social reforms. Social security, unemployment benefits, 40 hour work week, universal healthcare, labor organizing law - pretty much all safety nets and working conditions improvements made are socialist policies. This is what democratic socialist parties do in the West. They do it via direct policies and via strengthening labor organization laws. Think the reforms introduced by the New Deal in the US that shuttled money down from the top into the workers which created the average Joe life America was famous for up until the 70s-80s.
You are lost
There are absolutely ZERO accusations against socialism or communism that you can make which are not being committed by capitalism RIGHT FUCKING NOW.
ZERO.
This is why history repeats itself.
You have some of the worst nations in the world failing and mass murdering their citizens due to communism/socialism and you can’t see that.
Can you seriously say you’d want to live in a country like a Russia VS most other capitalist countries? Do you honestly not read or understand anything about how awful those systems are?
It’s shocking how entitled you and others are.
You know Russia is a capitalist country now right?
And it’s ruled by unaccountable billionaires who can murder without accountability
I like how you can’t grasp the importance of the title of the article.
It is amazing how tunnel-visioned you are. Are.you seriously saying that you want to live in a corporate dystopia with no recourse for grievance? Do you even know what year it is?
Also, if socialism/communism are so bad and doomed to fail, why do capitalist countries spend such absurd amounts of money to stop other countries from having it instead of defending their own? Why not let them fail on their own? Why does the Cuban embargo exist if it doesnt mean that the US has been lied to about it’s “threat”? Why would the CIA EVER bother to overthrow central and south American countries if socialism was doomed to fail and capitalism was “a system based on free and fair exchange”?
You never learned one single fucking thing from history, you cuck.
oof. My guy, I salute your tenacity. These folks here are the wrong crowd to ever give an inch on that stuff though.
Thanks. And yep, it’s quite an extremist group…!
I’m not sure why you’re getting downvoted so much, but I’ll join you so you’re not alone.
I fully believe there should be no billionaires, but somehow suggesting one of them is at least attempting to improve some things seems to be an absolute sin. I don’t think Gates is a saint, but I do believe in a lot of the projects he’s working on.
I assure you a guy who wakes up every day and makes a decision not to end hunger and instead use his stolen wealth to destroy public school systems and buy good PR is not attempting to improve things.