Putting his weight behind a homelessness tax in San Francisco, Marc Benioff has regained his populist voice

Last May, during the ribbon-cutting of the Salesforce Tower, the 61-story phallus that dominates San Francisco's skies, tech billionaire Marc Benioff urged politicians, journalists and citizens to stop blaming the world. technology industry for the problems of the city. The billionaire CEO of Salesforce explained that San Francisco had real problems, referring to the homeless camps located a few blocks from his company's new home ($ 1.1 billion), but it was unfair to them. throw at the feet of Big Tech.

"The challenges I have described today are not all attributable to the technology community," Benioff said. "Just as I challenge the technology community, I challenge others not to make them scapegoats."

Five months later, Benioff changed course. In the run-up to the November elections, one of San Francisco's wealthiest residents is imposed as part of a local initiative to tax big business and collect money. funds to help the homeless. And there is no doubt about who he is scapegoating.

"The entire technology sector is in a crisis of confidence and is affecting different companies, including ours … and this questions the question: can we trust technology companies?", He said in a statement. a recent interview with BuzzFeed News. "Part of that is, are you giving back and are you generous? And what are your values ​​and why do you have this business to start?

Recently, a crisis of confidence has swept the technology industry, leading the public to question the massive wealth accumulation of these companies and their disproportionate role in shaping social and political discourse. Benioff re-used grievances about his industry to opportunistically ask what his peers are doing to combat the homeless epidemic in the heart of Silicon Valley. In Proposition C, Benioff found his cause by posing as a populist claiming a tax on his company and others that would raise $ 300 million a year to address one of the most pressing problems in his life. San Francisco. "If we are not for the homeless, then who are we for?", He said in a speech that seems to be part of a well-rounded speech.

In this kind of talk, at least some people in the business and political world of San Francisco whisper that the 54-year-old could stand as mayor and use the C element as a stepping stone.

Benioff denied the rumors. "I will never run for political office," he said. "Companies are the biggest platform for change".

While a rich man with a populist political message is not new – just look at the White House – Benioff's call to Robin Hood comes at a time when many San Franciscans are getting enough the inability of the city to care for the 7,500 people who sleep on the streets associated drug and sanitation problems. And although Benioff is an awkward flag bearer – he has a net worth estimated at $ 5.8 billion in Forbes, built his fortune in the tech sector, lives on the billion-dollar San Francisco row, gives interviews on buying media companies at a massage table and working from tower that dominates the city – he confirms his remarks by donating $ 11.5 million to charities for the homeless during his lifetime and contributing over $ 1 million to support Prop C. (Salesforce has donated an additional $ 4.05 million to this measure.)

"We are short of money," said Benioff, pointing out that the city spends more than $ 300 million a year fighting homelessness. "The problem has never been so big. We simply need to do more at a level that philanthropy can not completely solve. "

Benioff's value for Prop C, which proposes a gross revenue tax of up to 0.7% on companies with revenues of more than $ 50 million a year, exceeds the limits of its financial resources. Although the mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, and a large number of investors in the sector of advanced technologies and commercial interests are opposed to this measure, the support of a billionaire CEO questions the the idea that Prop C might be bad for business, while pointing out that the San Francisco business community could and should do more. His involvement also drew attention to the measurement of the vote, particularly through an online exchange with Twitter and Square's CEO, Dorchester, who donated $ 125,000 to oppose the proposal. C, citing his support for the mayor's vision.

"What programs for the homeless do you support in our city?" Benioff, a native of San Francisco, wrote in a series of poignant tweets to Dorsey, who had the habit of directing Square's new employees during a walk to a statue of San Francisco Gandhi to discuss the society. "guiding principles." "Can you tell me what Twitter and Square and what are you in and at what financial levels? How much did you spend on our $ 37 million initiative to get all homeless children out of the street?

Benioff has described Dorsey's involvement in his unexpected debate on Twitter this month as "heavenly manna" for bringing a series of news that political ads can not buy. "He probably wonders why he tweeted, because it released energy," chuckled Benioff. Dorsey declined to comment.

Benioff's overtaking of Dorsey on the social media platform he's created shows how difficult it can be to discuss with the Salesforce leader about it. He has a habit of donating to the city's charities and it is difficult to punish someone who asks the government to tax his business more, said a member of the "No on Prop C" campaign. It's also difficult, said the person, when Benioff reduces everything to a binary referendum on the morality of technology: you are either to solve the problem of homelessness or you are against it.

"Anyone who claims that the C prop is a" homeless or against them "affair is an easy fallacy," said Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe, in an article published earlier this month. His company is leading the "Not on Propane C" effort and paid $ 420,000. "The mayor of London Breed, Senator and former supervisor, Scott Wiener … opposes the auspicious C … Supervisor David Chiu and the SF Chronicle … These people are not against the homeless."

Asked about his own formulation of the problem, Benioff interviewed his two public relations officials during the interview and conceded, "I know this quote is aggressive." But in a local political landscape where few 39 electors have time to delve into the details of proposal C or do not understand the complexity of a gross revenue tax, reducing the problem of "taking rich to give to the poor" may be politically expedient, even effective. As if to reinforce this point, Benioff described his frequent conversations with Collison about homelessness, before declaring that Stripe and his CEO, despite the revealed words of the epidemic, have not turned to charities for the homeless. Collison declined a request for an interview.

"Some supporters of Prop C have positioned it as the panacea against homelessness, which is simply wrong," said Jess Montejano, spokesperson for the "No On C" campaign, highlighting 39, other proposed solutions, include Mayor Breed's commitment to add 1,000 new beds by the end of 2020. "Supporting homelessness and supporting Prop C are two totally different things. "

Benioff's argument is essentially based on a direct demand from the city's businesses: be more generous. San Francisco, he said, was built by companies such as Wells Fargo, Levi Strauss and Gap, and the city is losing touch with its charitable roots with the influx of startups and businesses. new funds. It's not just a problem in San Francisco. Amazon, which has recently surpassed the $ 1 trillion market capitalization, recently opposed an entry tax that would have raised funds to address Seattle's homelessness. The company halted the construction of its new downtown tower until the city council canceled the tax.

"I do not really understand it," said Benioff. "[Amazon is] a product we all use, but they probably have a culture that could be more generous. "

"[Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is] is the richest man in the world, so he will exert more pressure to be generous like the previous richest man, Bill Gates, "he added. "[Gates] do this switch. Everyone must make this change, but it's not just about individuals. They are also companies and organizations. "

Amazon declined to comment.

In San Francisco, most of the companies behind the "No on C" effort have remained silent or hidden behind carefully crafted statements. Stripe declined to comment after the publication of Collison's blog, while Lyft, who gave $ 100,000 last week, declined to comment and Macy's, who donated $ 30,000, did not return a request for comment. .

"Visa is committed to improving the well-being of our San Francisco community and will work closely with Mayor Breed and her administration to support new homelessness programs as this is one of San Francisco's most critical problems, "said a spokesman for Visa. gave $ 225,000 to oppose Proposal C, said in a statement. "However, we agree with the mayor that proposal C takes the wrong approach."

To Dorsey's credit, he pledged, declaring a tweet thread that his discussions with Mayor Breed led him to believe that Element C "has neither the responsibility nor the controls", it would be necessary for the City Hall to manage an influx of money of 300 million dollars. On top of that, the measure would disproportionately affect his business. While Salesforce estimated that it would only pay an additional $ 10 million in taxes related to Prop C per year, Square, a payment processing company generating high revenues, low margins per transaction having not yet registered annual profit, would probably pay more than $ 20 million despite much fewer employees.

Benioff is mocked by the idea that the city would not know what to do with this money and dodged the questions about the disproportionate nature of the tax by firing more beards. "These companies are doing well," he said.

"If most companies do not say anything, it is that for the vast majority of them, including ours, the numbers are fundamentally irrelevant," he said. "If $ 10 million will change your business in one direction or the other and you are a multi-billion dollar company – I think Stripe is worth $ 20 billion and Square is worth $ 30 billion. "Then you will have a problem," he added.

Although Benioff said he was not particularly worried about the move to San Francisco if the cost of doing business is too high ("This city is sold!", He said), he wonders if its workers and residents will leave elsewhere if the homelessness problem becomes really unbearable. He says this is the only thing San Francisco visitors want to talk about, highlighting homelessness complaints posted on Twitter by customers who have come to town to attend Dreamforce, his company's annual conference.

Although Mayor Breed has made the fight against homelessness part of his program, Benioff is now on the opposite side and surprised that he did not end up supporting the measure. He recalled a recent phone call from his office requesting a charitable contribution so that a local non-profit organization could rent a hotel in Tenderloin District as a homeless shelter. This request alone shows that the city is at maximum capacity, said Benioff, adding that he was always surprised that the mayor fell on the opposite side of proposition C.

"I think for a politician, they belong to a whole other category and they have all kinds of political problems that I do not understand," he said. "She just could not take that risk. It's a political risk and she just could not take it. "

Montejano pushed back, noting that it would have been "easy" for Breed to support Prop C.

"It must govern for the entire city and take a holistic approach to all the problems SF faces," he said. "She again showed leadership in not taking a convenient political stance that would have supported" Yes on C. ""

Benioff, a powerful city actor who rubbed shoulders with former mayor Willie Brown and the late Ed Lee, wants to portray himself as the opposite of a moderate politician: a free businessman with no political baggage nor interest heart. In the end, he believes that San Francisco should enforce a "right to shelter" law, as in New York, which states that the city must provide a place for sleep to the homeless.

But with the current ballot initiative facing so many oppositions, he is abandoning the battle for the second time and giving up immediate attention.

"We have not had this conversation for a while in our city," he said. "I've never seen reporters come into my office and say," Well, do you think other companies should give? "Well, maybe I should have done that more aggressively."