Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Watch Marc Benioff try to explain what he’s going to do with Time magazine

“I’m the inspiring visionary!”

Billionaire tech CEOs are used to appearing on the covers of glossy magazines. They’re much less familiar with actually running and operating those magazines.

So what in the heck is Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff going to do with Time, the nearly 100-year-old magazine he bought for $190 million cash back in September?

“This is a more important time to have a positive global impact than ever,” Benioff said in an interview with Recode’s Kara Swisher this week. “It’s one of my core values. And I thought one of these media brands could be used in such a positive way.”

Some believed that Benioff might end up buying Fortune, one of the other well-known magazines Meredith recently sold. “For a while we thought we might end up with another one of these brands, and all of a sudden it became clear to us: No, the brand [where] we can have the biggest impact is Time magazine,” he said.

What’s still unclear is how Benioff will personally make that impact beyond signing the checks. Benioff says his role at the magazine won’t be operational, but he and Kara went back and forth on what his involvement will actually look like without settling on a firm answer. Here’s part of the exchange, which will appear on MSNBC Sunday:

Swisher: “But what’s your role? What’s your role? You’re not answering my question.”
Benioff: “I’m the inspiring visionary!”
Swisher: “What does that mean? What are you going to do, walk around and say things?”
Benioff: “Yeah, I’m going to walk around and try to inspire a vision for the future of the brand.”
Swisher: “What does that mean? I don’t even understand what that means.”
Benioff: “Well, that is why I’m a visionary leader, Kara, and you’re not.”

There’s clearly a lot of tongue-in-cheek going on, but how exactly Benioff plans to run Time remains a mystery. One thing Benioff did commit to: Pumping more money into the magazine.

“We’re going to invest very heavily,” he said.

We’ll find out soon enough if Benioff can do for Time what fellow tech billionaire Jeff Bezos did for the Washington Post.

You can watch the exchange below. The full interview will appear on the MSNBC/Recode show “Revolution: Salesforce Changing the World,” which airs Sunday, Nov. 18, at 10 pm ET.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh