Salesforce CEO blames Microsoft for not investing in OpenAI

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff wanted a stake in OpenAI long before most of the tech industry was chasing one. Sam Altman turned him down, and Microsoft was the reason. Speaking on Alex Heath's Sources podcast, in an episode published on Tuesday, Benioff said OpenAI's ties to Microsoft, a direct rival to Salesforce in enterprise software, kept the door shut.So Salesforce went to OpenAI's biggest rival instead. That fallback, Anthropic, is now valued at $965 billion and preparing for a public listing. Benioff believes the bet could earn Salesforce "not just billions but maybe tens of billions of dollars."Microsoft's 27% OpenAI stake kept Salesforce off the cap table"I knew Sam Altman very well," Benioff said on the Sources podcast.