CAPITALI$M IN SPACE
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's past support of the 'huge' investment opportunity in space resurfaced after the company's Super Bowl ad mocked Elon Musk and Mars exploration
Salesforce took a dig at the billionaire space race in its Super Bowl commercial on Sunday.
Following the ad, a video resurfaced of Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff saying "space is a huge category we should invest in."
While the ad pokes fun at Elon Musk for investing in space, Benioff has been supportive of space exploration.
A video of Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff saying that "space is a huge category we should invest in" resurfaced after the software company took a dig at the billionaire space race and Elon Musk's plans for colonizing Mars in its Super Bowl ad.
In Salesforce's 60-second commercial that aired on Sunday and during the Olympics, actor Matthew McConaughey floats through space in a hot air balloon and waxes philosophical on the future of life on Earth. In the video, he says "the new frontier" isn't "rocket science," taking a jab at entrepreneurs like Musk and Jeff Bezos and their preoccupation with building a future in outer space.
"It's not time to escape. It's time to engage," McConaughey said in the video. "So while the others look to the metaverse and Mars, let's stay here and restore ours," he added.
The ad echoed the criticism of many public figures, including Bill Gates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who called the billionaires to task for "joyriding into space while millions go hungry on Earth."
Yet Salesforce CEO Benioff was far from critical when Bezos announced his plans to spend $5.5 billion on 3 minutes in outer space. Benioff noted that it's an area where Time Ventures, his venture capital arm, is active and has invested in several space companies, including SpaceX, Astra, Swarm, and Planet Labs.
"I actually think that space is a huge category that we should invest in," Benioff said in an interview with CNBC, following Bezos' announcement. "I think those companies are amazing in the work they're doing and the entrepreneurs."
The CEO has also praised Musk for his work with SpaceX, calling his work "visionary leadership" on Twitter in 2020, as SpaceX prepared to launch astronauts into space.
Oscar winner McConaughey told Variety he would love to discuss the issues presented in the commercial with Bezos, Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg.
"Our campaign is not anti-technology. It's not anti-pioneering space," McConaughey told the publication "It's saying, 'Hey, we have to not be so ready to quit on our home team; our home planet. We got a home field advantage, let's take care of it.' If and when we do get to space — or if the day comes when there is a great migration or immigration or travel to space — I bet Elon, Mark and Jeff would like to export a more valuable society there with people that didn't take all the problems and angst and fear that we got right now."
Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment from Insider. Take a look at the
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