Benioff is something of an anomaly among Silicon Valley CEOs — he was actually born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from Burlingame High School in 1982, Bloomberg reported.

His father, Russell Benioff, owned a local department store in San Francisco. "I learned my work ethic from him," Benioff once said, according to SFGate.

Benioff got his first job at a jewelry store to save for his first computer. He was eventually fired for cleaning the floors with the wrong soap. While in high school, Benioff sold his software — "How To Juggle" for the TRS-80 Model 1 computer — to a computer magazine for $75.

At age 15, Benioff founded Liberty Software, a one-man company making games for the Atari 800 computer. Titles included "King Arthur's Heir," "The Nightmare," "Escape from Vulcan's Isle," and "Crypt of the Undead," Entrepreneur reported.

By age 16, Benioff was pulling in $1,500 a month — enough that he was able to pay for his own tuition at the University of Southern California.

He worked as a programmer in the Macintosh division under cofounder Steve Jobs. "That summer, I discovered it was possible for an entrepreneur to encourage revolutionary ideas," Benioff would later write in his book "Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-dollar Company — and Revolutionized an Industry."

Jobs became one of Benioff's mentors. "There would be no Salesforce.com without Steve Jobs," Benioff said in 2013, according to Entrepreneur.

USC named him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2014. He now sits on the University's Board of Trustees.

Benioff planned to stay in programming for the rest of his career, but a USC professor suggested he might have a mind for business. So he took a customer support role at high-flying database company Oracle right out of college, according to his "Behind the Cloud" book.

At age 23, Benioff was named Oracle's "Rookie of the Year."

By age 26, he was named a vice president — the youngest person to attain the role in the company's history, according to his bio on Salesforce.

"They sailed to the Mediterranean on Ellison's yacht, visited Japan during cherry blossom season, spent Thanksgiving together, and even double-dated," according to Fortune.

With Ellison's permission, Benioff took a sabbatical to travel the world. He spent part of that time studying meditation in Hawaii.

Benioff came up with the idea for Salesforce while swimming with dolphins. He soon started working on the company with a few other Oracle veterans, Entrepreneur reported.

The big idea behind Salesforce was that while most companies — including Oracle — sold enterprise software that companies had to install on their own servers, Salesforce could let people access business software from a web browser. For the late nineties, this was revolutionary, Benioff wrote in "Behind the Cloud."

Ellison even gave Salesforce $2 million in funding from his own pocket to get it started and sat on its board of directors.

Benioff found out that Oracle was working on a direct competitor to Salesforce, the Mercury News reported in 2000. Benioff tried to force his mentor to quit the company's board. Instead, Ellison forced Benioff to fire him — meaning Ellison kept his shares in Salesforce. 

It kicked off an epic rivalry, with the two taking shots at each other in the press. Note the Salesforce jet shooting down the Oracle biplane in this early Salesforce ad from 2001.

"Suddenly everything around us was falling apart," Benioff's cofounder Parker Harris said, according to the Australian Financial Review. However, several clients remained, and Salesforce survived and kept growing, becoming one of the earliest and biggest companies in the modern cloud computing market.

That year, the company had about 767 employees.

In 2016, Benioff fought against proposed bills in Indiana and Georgia that would allow discrimination against gay people. He rallied other business leaders to the cause, with a positive result, according to Time.

Under his leadership, Salesforce invented the "1-1-1" model, where the company gives 1% of employee time as volunteer hours, 1% of its profits, and 1% of its resources to charitable causes.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee declared March 7 "Global 1/1/1 Day" in honor of Salesforce's 15th birthday in 2014. Benioff keeps a copy of the proclamation in his office, Forbes reported.

Benioff's philanthropic efforts focus on children's health, the environment, public education, and homelessness, according to his biography on Salesforce's website.

Benioff also serves on the World Economic Forum's Board of Trustees. He credits former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Hindu guru Mata Amritanandamayi — whom he met on a trip through India — with encouraging him to put Salesforce's resources to work helping others.

And while he may not have the globetrotting playboy reputation that his mentor Ellison has, Benioff has lots of friends in the celebrity and political worlds.

Over the years, Benioff has spent some of his billions on "Star Wars" desk trinkets, according to Forbes, and an extensive tech-themed shoe collection. 

Over the past few years, Benioff has bought up land in an agricultural and largely native Hawaiian town called Waimea. He lives in a beachside mansion nearby. Since 2000, Benioff has bought at least 38 parcels of land in Hawaii through various LLCs and a nonprofit, NPR reported in 2024.

In 2023, Benioff and his wife gave 282 acres of land near Waimea to the Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation along with $7 million for affordable housing.

"This is a place that everybody loves to be. It's a magical place. It's a place that people come and transform and change, evolve. They experience God. They experience nature. They experience themselves," Benioff said about Hawaii, according to NPR.

It's described as a global four-day event hosting official sessions and unofficial meetings between key players in the tech industry. Dreamforce also has a reputation for being big on social events, with acts like Metallica and Foo Fighters headlining its afterparties

Salesforce had gotten so big that in 2012, the company abandoned plans to move into a new San Francisco campus because it said it had already outgrown it. It had 9,800 employees globally that year.

The pair share a great-grandfather, but they never met until 2015 when "Game of Thrones" premiered. David is the co-creator of the hit HBO adaption of the fantasy book series written by George R. R. Martin.

Salesforce announced in 2020 that Benioff's co-CEO, Keith Block, stepped down after a year and a half. Block did not give a reason for the transition at the time but said he was excited for the future.

In 2021, Bret Taylor — who had been with the company since 2016 — was appointed to the role. Taylor announced his resignation in 2022 after a reported showdown for the sole CEO position.

When the acquisition went through, insiders at the company expressed their excitement for the future. Time was reportedly able to go on a hiring spree after being purchased by the Benioffs.

The acquisition of the messaging platform cost about $27.7 billion. After just over a year as CEO, Lidiane Jones left Slack for the top job at dating app Bumble. In November 2023, Salesforce exec Denise Dresser was named the CEO of Slack.

Salesforce kicked off 2024 by cutting about 1% of its global workforce after laying off roughly 7,000 in 2023. Benioff blamed the cuts on over-hiring during the pandemic.

Slack began integrating ChatGPT — the generative AI chatbot made by OpenAI — in 2023. 

During a June earnings call, Benioff said that he and Sam Altman are neighbors who've had dinner at least once to discuss artificial intelligence.

In a press release, the couple expressed their intentions to give back to the local community through experts who "deeply understand" local needs.

"We feel fortunate to have been part of the Hawaii community for many decades and to be able to support our ohana in this way. Nothing is more important than the health of our community and access to care for all who need it."

The Benioffs donated $50 million to Hilo Medical Center and $100 million to Hawaii Pacific Health in March, according to Spectrum News.

Still, he has previously said he should pay more taxes.

"Well get an economy that works for everyone when 1) create educational system that works for everyone & 2) Affordable Higher education & 3) strengthen our local K-12 public schools 4) We must focus online reskilling that brings everyone along & 5) higher ind & Crp taxes to pay for it," Benioff tweeted in June 2019.

About 53% of shareholders in July voted against a proposed plan to increase Benioff's equity, bringing his total compensation to $39.6 million from $29.9 million last year while keeping his base pay of $1.55 million the same.

Shareholders were advised to vote against the plan by firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services. 

They still voted to keep Benioff as chair instead of opting for an independent board chair.

"We wanted to share that my father, Jamie Foxx, experienced a medical complication yesterday," Corinne Foxx shared on her Instagram account on behalf of the Foxx family.

"Luckily, due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery. We know how beloved he is and appreciate your prayers," the statement continued. "The family asks for privacy during this time."

The family did not share details about what caused the health issue at the time.

According to CNN, the actor was in Atlanta filming his new Netflix movie, "Back in Action," with Cameron Diaz and Glenn Close when he was taken to hospital, although he was not on set at the time.

Two days after the news of his hospitalization broke, Kerry Washington shared a throwback photo of herself and Foxx on Instagram, captioning it: "A @iamjamiefoxx appreciation post."

"Sending you all the love and prayers my movie huzbin," she continued, followed by a string of praying hand and heart emojis.

Washington and Foxx played husband and wife in "Django Unchained" (2012) and the Ray Charles biopic "Ray" (2004), the latter of which earned the actor an Academy Award.

Meanwhile, LeBron James posted to X (formerly known as Twitter): "Sending my thoughts and prayers to the heavens above to my brother @iamjamiefoxx!!!! Get well and back to yourself SOONER THAN LATER! God willing."

Jennifer Hudson also sent well wishes to her "Dreamgirls" costar, writing on Instagram: "Lifting my friend @iamjamiefoxx and the Foxx family up in prayer ! We pray for healing in Jesus' name! Sending u all the love in the world, Jamie !!!"

According to both CNN and People, the "Day Shift" actor was still receiving medical care at the Georgia medical facility.

"They are running tests and still trying to figure out what exactly happened," a source told CNN at the time.

On the same date, People also reported that Foxx's costar and close friend Diaz made her return to the set of the movie they had been filming, working with a body double for Foxx.

Morgan and Harvey wished Foxx well while attending Lawrence's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony on April 20.

"I love Jamie. Jamie's a good friend of mine … my prayers go up for Jamie," Morgan told Entertainment Tonight. 

"He's strong, he's a fighter, he's gonna come out of it and he's good. He's gonna be stronger and better than ever," he said.

Referring to his 2014 accident which left him with life-threatening injuries, Morgan added: "I've been there. I was on the other side in a coma for 10 days, so I know about [being hospitalized]."

"I just want Jamie to please get strong," the "30 Rock" actor added. "Jamie, I love you. My prayers go out to you and your family. Please get well."

Meanwhile, Lawrence told Extra: "I hear he's doing better… My prayers go out for him every night and just wishing the best for him, one of the best that we got in Hollywood," 

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Cannon said that he has been saying "words of affirmation for my big brother" and teased the news that he would be standing in for Foxx as guest host on the upcoming season of game show "Beat Shazam."

He said: "I know he's doing so much better because I'm actually about to do something special for him, and doing him a favor. I can't really say what it is, but it'll be out there soon."

Speaking about Foxx's health, he added: "He's awake. They say he's alert, so, we love it. That's family right there."

Appearing on the podcast "Impaulsive with Logan Paul" on May 3, the comedian shared what he knew about Foxx's medical condition and recovery.

Although Hart noted that Foxx has "always been a private person to a certain degree," he said he was "fortunate" to be able to have a good relationship with the actor and has checked in on him in the past few weeks.

"I think the dope thing is that he's getting better in his situation, and everybody's prayers, everybody's love, energy, all that stuff is seen and felt," Hart told hosts Logan Paul and Mike Majlak.

"I don't know the details the exact details as to what's going on, but to my knowledge, there's a lot of progression and a world of better," he added. 

"Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed," he wrote, followed by a praying hands emoji, red heart emoji, and fox emoji.

Many of his friends extended their well wishes to him in the comments.

Jeremy Renner wrote: "Sending you strength and love," while Kate Beckinsale added: "Love you sir massive hugs king xxxx"

Ansel Elgort, who appeared in "Baby Driver" with Foxx, wrote: "You are the greatest Jamie, please make a speedy recovery. You are a blessing to this world, we need you in it."

Foxx also gave a shout-out to Nick Cannon for filling in on his hosting duties for the upcoming season of "Beat Shazam" in an Instagram Story.

"Appreciate ya my boy @nickcannon. See u all soon," he wrote over the Fox show's statement about the change of lineup for the new season, which returned to screens on May 23.

Just over a month after news of his hospitalization, Foxx's daughter announced that the actor was out of the hospital after unsubstantiated reports that the family was "preparing for the worst" began circulating online.

According to her Instagram Story, her father was discharged several weeks ago.

"Update from family: Sad to see how the media runs wild," she wrote.

"My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating. In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyone's prayers and support! We have an exciting work announcement coming next week too!" 

The duo, who will be sitting out the upcoming season of "Beat Shazam" as previously mentioned, are set to cohost a new music game show called "We Are Family," also for Fox and scheduled to premiere in 2024.

"He finally picked up the phone. Thank you, bro," Boyega told People at the premiere of the movie. "He's doing well. And then, you know, we just giving him the privacy, and we can't wait for his return."

"I gave him the well wishes directly," Boyega added. "I gave him all the well wishes. So I'm just gonna be waiting until he comes back out here. So take your time, Jamie. We love you, bro."

"They Cloned Tyrone" coproducer Datari Turner shared similar comments about Foxx.

"He's in really, really good shape and spirits.," Turner said. "And he'll be back on the screen. He'll be back to work very soon."

In a video obtained by TMZ, Foxx was in good spirits as he waved to fans while on a yacht in Chicago.

"Boat life," he later posted on X, followed by a mention of his whiskey brand. "Celebrating summer with @brownsugarbbn Stay blessed!"

"First of all, I want to say thank you to everybody that's prayed, man, and sent me messages. I cannot even begin to tell you how far it took me and how it brought me back," Foxx said in a video posted on Instagram. "I went through something that I thought I would never ever go through."

Foxx said that he was aware that people wanted updates, but he didn't want fans to see him during his medical complication.

"I didn't want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was going to make it through," he said. "And to be honest with you, my sister, Deidra Dixon, and my daughter, Corinne Marie, saved my life. So to them, to God, to a lot of great medical people, I'm able to leave you this video."

Foxx said that his family protected him and kept his situation under wraps, which led to speculation and false rumors. 

"I went to hell and back. And my road to recovery had some potholes as well," he said. "But I'm coming back and I'm able to work. So I want to thank the people who let me work. I just want to say that I love everybody and I love all the love that I got."

Foxx was presented with the Vanguard Award for his performance in the 2023 film "The Burial," which was inspired by true events.

The actor began his speech by telling the audience that he couldn't walk six months prior. 

"I wouldn't wish what I went through on my worst enemy, because it's tough," he said. 

Since his experience, Foxx said that he has a "new respect" for life and his art.

"I watched so many movies and listened to so many songs trying to have the time go by," Foxx said. "Don't give up on your art, man, don't give up."

Foxx and his producing partner Datari Turner accepted the award on behalf of Foxxhole Productions. The actor's speech was filled with jokes and heartfelt sentiments reflecting on his career. He also referenced his health situation.  

"Everybody wants to know what happened, and I'm going to tell you what happened. But I've gotta do it in my way," Foxx said. "I'm gonna do it in a funny way. We're gonna be on the stage. We're gonna get back to the standup sort of roots."

Foxx was seen talking to a small group of people in Phoenix, Arizona, in a brief undated video posted by an account called @ArtOfDialogue_ on X. 

"Look, April 11th last year, bad headache," Fox said. "I asked my boy for an Advil."

"I was gone for 20 days," he continued. "I don't remember anything."

Foxx said that he was in Atlanta at the time and his sister and daughter took him to a doctor who gave him a cortisone shot. 

"Next doctor said, 'There's something's going on up there," Foxx added, pointing to his head. "I won't say it on camera."

Both sandwiches came in foil bags. They also both stayed warm despite half an hour passing between the time I picked them up and when I finally got them home. 

I noticed that each sandwich had a very different bun. McDonald's bun, pictured on the right, was harder and slightly denser, while Chick-fil-A's was softer and slightly bigger than the fillet inside.

The chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A cost me $8.65 at my local Chick-fil-A in New York City, making it slightly more expensive than the McDonald's sandwich. 

Chick-fil-A has consistently ranked as one of America's biggest fast-food chains, and customer loyalty is high. 

"Chick-fil-A has very strong brand loyalists," former McDonald's chef Mike Haracz told Business Insider. "I've sat in panels when I was doing chicken work. They will try the food, but when you tell them it's not from Chick-fil-A they'll say, 'Well, I think it's great but I'm not going to buy it because I am a Chick-fil-A consumer.'"

However, Haracz said that "there are some people who might go to Chick-fil-A strictly for the flavor" alone, and if McDonald's can match that, they may be swayed.

Chicken sandwiches have been mainstays on most fast-food menus since 2020, but Chick-fil-A is often considered the original.

The chain also consistently outperforms its competitors. A recent ranking by Technomic ranks Chick-fil-A as the biggest chicken-focused fast-food chain in the country and the third-biggest fast-food chain overall. McDonald's still ranks as the No. 1 biggest fast-food chain in the country.

However, at the franchisee level, Chick-fil-A might be coming out on top. CNBC recently reported that the average franchised Chick-fil-A restaurant (not including ones in malls) brings in about $8.7 million in sales each year, compared to the average franchised McDonald's restaurant, which makes about $3.7 million in annual sales.

This is especially impressive considering that unlike McDonald's, which is often open 24/7, Chick-fil-A is only open six days a week. 

Chick-fil-A's chicken breast was flakier rather than juicy. Looking at both of the sandwiches, the fillet itself also looked slightly bigger. The breading was thinner and clung to the chicken breast well, which gave it a great texture. 

However, I was slightly disappointed by Chick-fil-A's pickles — they didn't have the strong briny flavor or crunchiness I usually look for.

The McDonald's crispy chicken sandwich cost $7.49 at my local chain in Brooklyn, New York.

I've been a fan of McDonald's chicken sandwiches for years, but I could already tell that I was going to like this new sandwich a lot more.

The bun held the contents of the sandwich together perfectly, and in terms of size, I thought McDonald's did a great job at nailing the bun-to-chicken ratio. 

The sandwich's breading had a slight sweetness. However, the tart, crunchy pickles, which had a strong briny flavor, perfectly balanced it out. The chicken was thick, juicy, and flavorful.

The only aspect of the sandwich I wasn't in love with was the bun — though it was a good size, I thought it was slightly too thick. I'm of the opinion that a sandwich bun's sole purpose is to hold everything together, without overpowering the other ingredients. I think this thicker potato bun slightly missed the mark on that.

So, how similar were the two sandwiches? Pretty similar, in my opinion. If I was to do a blind taste test, I might not even know which was which, unless one was slathered in Chick-fil-A sauce. However, this is not to say that McDonald's is actively trying to copy or imitate Chick-fil-A's most iconic offering.

There is a trend in what consumers are looking for in a chicken sandwich, whether they're ordering from Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, Popeyes, or any other chain.

Judging by the success of the chicken-war competitors, consumers want a Southern-inspired flavor with juicy, flavorful chicken and tart and crunchy pickles. McDonald's definitely delivered on all counts.

As far as this food reporter is concerned, the McDonald's chicken sandwich stacks up well against fan favorites — and you save a little bit of money by ordering from the bigger chain.