The CEO of software giant Salesforce has warned that the company could reconsider holding its big annual meeting in San Francisco if attendees at this year’s conference fall victim to the city’s crime wave.
Founded in San Francisco in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, Salesforce brought its employees together every year for a conference called Dreamforce in the city.
This year’s Dreamforce – the city’s largest tech gathering this year – will take place September 12-14 at the Moscone Center in the heart of downtown San Francisco.
The 40,000 expected in-person attendees will pump $57 million into the local economy, but Benioff said he is paying close attention to ensure no one is affected by the city’s rising crime.
Robberies increased 16 percent compared to last year, and motor vehicle thefts increased 11.3 percent.
“If this Dreamforce is affected by the current situation with homelessness and drug use, it could be the last Dreamforce in the city,” Benioff told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday.
Marc Benioff is pictured speaking at the annual Dreamforce conference on September 22, 2022. He said Tuesday he would consider rescheduling the event if there were problems this year
Benioff is pictured at the 2017 Dreamforce meeting
The image shows the Dreamforce conference in 2018. This year’s event will bring 40,000 people to San Francisco
Hillary Clinton is pictured attending the 2014 Dreamforce Conference
Benioff noted that Dreamforce serves as a test run for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference that Joe Biden will host in the city in November and will bring 21 world leaders to the city.
“As always, we work hand in hand with the city,” he said. “So it’s in all of our interests that things go well and that APEC does well.”
“That should be the focus of the city.”
London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco who is fighting to save the struggling city’s reputation, told KRON4 that they are working hard to make sure every delegate enjoys their time in the Bay Area.
“San Francisco is committed to making Dreamforce a world-class event, as we do year after year,” she said.
“The city is working closely with Salesforce and our hospitality partners to welcome all participants and ensure the resources are in place to make it safe, welcoming and vibrant for everyone.”
The fortunes of Salesforce are inextricably linked to those of the city.
Downtown San Francisco is characterized by empty stores, homeless camps and drug users
Homeless encampments are pictured in San Francisco – one of the worst affected cities in the US
Dreamforce will take place in a space that many major retailers have abandoned
The company completed Salesforce Tower in 2018, a 61-story skyscraper that serves as its headquarters and is closely watched as an indicator of the city’s health.
Salesforce, the city’s largest private employer, has embraced remote work and has found much of its office space vacant since 2020.
In May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the company had listed offices for lease in Salesforce Tower as well as its other offices at 350 Mission Street and 50 Fremont Street, where 90 percent of the space is vacant.
Salesforce subsidiary Slack also left its former headquarters at 500 Howard Street, which is 95.4 percent vacant, and offered sublease space at 45 Fremont Street, which is 60 percent vacant.
Previous Dreamforce conferences have passed without significant problems, although Benioff said in 2018 that attendees had emailed him to complain about the homelessness problem and dirty streets.
Benioff and his team hyped this year’s gathering at “the nation’s premier generative artificial intelligence show.”
It kicks off with a fireside chat between Benioff and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Invited guests include Matthew McConaughey and Stanford AI professor Fei Fei Li.
The Foo Fighters were booked to perform in front of the visitors.