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Salesforce is leaving a San Francisco office tower bearing its name

A man waits to cross the street outside Salesforce East building on Mission Street. | Gabrielle Lurie/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Salesforce is ditching the last of its remaining office space at 350 Mission St., listing 104,051 square feet for sublease at the tower known as Salesforce East.

The office space is spread across six floors, according to a listing viewed by The Standard. The SoMa high-rise became known as Salesforce East when the software firm leased the entirety of the building more than 10 years ago.

Salesforce, one of San Francisco's largest private employers, has been steadily dumping office space since the onset of the pandemic. It had already listed most of its space at Salesforce East, some of which has been absorbed by other companies, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

As of Jan. 31, the company’s San Francisco headquarters included around 1.6 million square feet of leased and owned property, not including 800,000 square feet subleased in San Francisco and another 700,000 square feet available for sublease. Last month, the SF Business Times reported that Salesforce listed six floors for sublease at Salesforce Tower.

A Salesforce spokesperson confirmed the sublease and said it was part of a restructuring announced in January.

The latest analysis of the San Francisco market shows that Salesforce holds more sublease space than any other company in the city. The addition of the Salesforce East property brings the company's total to more than 700,000 square feet of office space in the city on the sublease market.

That restructuring included a 10% layoff that affected 752 employees at its San Francisco offices, according to a state filing. Activist investors including Elliott Management, Starboard Value and others have bought up shares in the company in an effort to pressure the firm to boost profits.

As part to the restructuring, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in January that the company would close offices and continue to trim its real estate holdings to cut costs. Echoing other tech executives that have laid off workers, Benioff pinned the layoffs on overhiring during the pandemic.

In an interview with Bloomberg last month, Salesforce Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham said that the company may lay off more workers to improve efficiency. The firm is working with the consulting firm Bain & Co. on a review of its business.

The Salesforce East property reinforces the company's position as the largest sublessor of office space in San Francisco.

Kevin Truong contributed additional reporting for this story.
Annie Gaus can be reached at annie@sfstandard.com

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