Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield to Step Down in January

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield plans to leave the workplace messaging platform in January, parent company Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) has confirmed. This comes just days after Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor announced his resignation. The company also announced that Lidiane Jones, who has been the executive VP and GM for digital experiences clouds at Salesforce, would be taking over for Butterfield.

“Stewart is an incredible leader who created an amazing, beloved company in Slack. He has helped lead the successful integration of Slack into Salesforce and today Slack is woven into the Salesforce Customer 360 platform,” the company said in a statement. Butterfield came to Salesforce when the company bought Slack for $27 billion at the end of 2020 with a projected estimation that Slack’s workplace app will become popular for collaborations within and between companies.

The statement also mentioned the succession plan: “Stewart also was instrumental in choosing Lidiane Jones as the next Slack CEO to lead it into its next chapter. Lidiane has a strong background in customer and enterprise tech and has been among Salesforce’s leadership for over three years. We’re grateful for Stewart and excited for Lidiane as she takes over the reins at Slack.”

Last week, Salesforce stock tumbled after co-CEO Bret Taylor’s sudden exit caught Wall Street off guard and raised concerns about the merit of having two leaders.