Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, speaks throughout a keynote on the Dreamforce 2023 convention in San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2023.
Marlena Sloss | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Salesforce announced on Tuesday that its annual Dreamforce convention for purchasers and companions will stay in San Francisco for 2024.
The dedication to its hometown comes months after co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff informed the San Francisco Chronicle that Dreamforce 2023 is likely to be the final one in the town. Some different know-how corporations, comparable to Google and Oracle, have chosen to maneuver their occasions elsewhere amid elevated considerations of homelessness, drug use and theft in components of the town.
“We signed an extensive agreement with the city that outlined the key pieces we knew we needed!” Benioff informed CNBC in a textual content message. The occasion will happen from Sept. 17 via Sept. 19.
The settlement solely extends to 2024, in retaining with Salesforce’s typical apply of speaking its plans with San Francisco one 12 months out, in keeping with an individual acquainted with the matter who requested to not ben named as a result of the discussions have been confidential.
Before saying its intention to remain in San Francisco, Salesforce needed to verify it may depend on the town to offer a large enough police presence in the world and will maintain the sidewalks sufficiently clear, the particular person stated.
Dreamforce this 12 months attracted about 40,000 attendees, and Benioff pointed to scrub sidewalks and a normal feeling of security. Police officers and others had reportedly pushed unhoused folks emigrate elsewhere. The crowd was a lot smaller than it was in 2019, when 171,000 folks participated.
Headlined by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and different visitors, this 12 months’s occasion was slated to supply greater than $89 million in financial exercise.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed thanked Benioff in a post on X, previously often called Twitter, that included a photograph of the 2 of them, clad in Golden State Warriors basketball attire.
Benioff stated on X that San Francisco is “now the AI capital of the world.” It’s house to OpenAI and different notable synthetic intelligence startups, comparable to Adept AI and Anthropic. Salesforce used this 12 months’s Dreamforce convention to indicate off AI capabilities integrating with know-how from Anthropic and OpenAI.
San Francisco reported 620 unintentional drug overdose deaths in 2022, down from 640 in 2021 and 725 in 2020. There have been 7,754 homeless folks in the town on Feb. 23, 2022, down from 8,035 on Jan. 24, 2019, municipal knowledge showed. Banana Republic, Nordstrom and Whole Foods have closed areas downtown in current months, including to considerations.
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