Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff Honored as Silicon Valley Visionary

Business Wire, August 3, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO -- Benioff Joins Intel's Craig Barrett, Cisco's John Chambers and Intuit's Scott Cook as 2004 SDForum Visionary Award Recipients

Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), the market and technology leader in customer relationship management (CRM) on demand, today announced that chairman and CEO Marc Benioff has received a 2004 Visionary Award from the Software Development Forum (SDForum) in recognition of his demonstrated leadership and commitment in fostering technology and community development. In addition to Benioff, the 2004 Visionary Award recipients include Craig Barrett, president and CEO of Intel (Nasdaq:INTC); John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO) and Scott Cook, founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Intuit (Nasdaq:INTU).

The non-profit SDForum has been Silicon Valley's leading source of information and education to the technology community for 20 years. The Visionary Awards were established in 1997 to pay tribute to the technology leaders who have fostered the innovation, entrepreneurship and corporate philanthropy that represent Silicon Valley's legacy. Past Visionary Award recipients include Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT); Scott McNealy, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW); Gordon Moore, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel Corporation; Jeff Skoll, founder of the Skoll Foundation and first employee and president of eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY); and Steve Wozniak, as well as a number of other high-profile contributors to the industry.

"Marc Benioff is an innovator and distinguished business leader of the technology industry," said Laura Merling, executive director, SDForum. "He is the consummate entrepreneur who puts doing good for the community at the heart of his company's success, creating a positive impact that extends beyond Silicon Valley."

"SDForum plays a vital role in the entrepreneurial innovation that continues to thrive in Silicon Valley, and I am honored to be recognized by this important organization," said Benioff. "Salesforce.com has become the most successful on demand application company in the world by relentlessly focusing on innovation, customer success and community success. These core values are the fuel for the growth of the technology industry, in Silicon Valley and beyond."

Benioff founded salesforce.com in March 1999 with the vision of a company built on a new technology model, a new business model and a new model for integrated corporate philanthropy. He is now regarded as the leader of what he termed the "End Of Software," the idea that Web-based applications deliver immediate benefits at reduced risks and costs, in place of traditional software. By providing companies of all sizes, in all industries, and in all parts of the world with integrated, scalable, and completely customizable features, salesforce.com has democratized CRM success.

Benioff is recognized as one of the preeminent thinkers in information technology. He currently serves as co-chairman of the bi-partisan President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). Fortune Magazine called Benioff one of its Top 10 Entrepreneurs to Watch; BusinessWeek named him one of the 25 people responsible for turning e-business around.

Throughout his career, Benioff has been determined to use information technology to produce positive social change. In July 2000, with Colin Powell in attendance, Benioff launched the salesforce.com/foundation, a multi-million dollar global philanthropic organization aimed at bridging the digital divide. Pioneering the "1 percent solution" -- salesforce.com contributes one percent of profits, equity and employee hours back to the communities it serves -- the salesforce.com/foundation has demonstrated the power and impact of integrated philanthropy.

Most recently, Benioff co-authored Compassionate Capitalism, the first-ever best practices guide for corporate philanthropy that illustrates the success of the integrated model.

About salesforce.com

Salesforce.com is the market and technology leader in customer relationship management (CRM) on demand. Through its award-winning salesforce.com family of products, the company provides a comprehensive suite of customer relationship management (CRM) services to help enterprises of all sizes, industries and geographies meet the complex challenge of managing customer information. Salesforce.com also offers sforce, the salesforce.com client/service platform, to allow customers and independent software vendors to customize and integrate salesforce.com, as well as build their own on demand enterprise applications. As of June 30, 2004, salesforce.com manages customer information for 10,700 customers and 161,000 paying subscribers including Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Dow Jones, America Online (AOL), Avis/Budget Rent A Car (Cendant Rental Car Group), Polycom and SunTrust Banks. Salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM". For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.