Salesforce's Top Two Insiders Sold $35M in CRM Stock Last Quarter — Here's the Breakdown

CEO Benioff and CTO Harris Both Cashed In on $161.50 Strike Options

Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff and Co-Founder/CTO Parker Harris sold a combined $35 million in company stock during Q4 2025, according to Form 4 filings. The headline transaction: Harris exercised 134,662 options and immediately sold every share on December 2 for $31.6 million in a single day.

Both executives exercised options with the same $161.50 strike price, selling into a market trading CRM between $232 and $264 — locking in $70–$100 per share in profit on each option exercised.

Parker Harris: $31.6M in One Day

Harris, Salesforce’s Co-Founder and CTO of Slack, executed his largest single-day disposition in recent memory on December 2, 2025:

Transaction	Shares	Price	Est. Value
Exercise (M)	134,662	$161.50	—
Sell (S)	13,225	$232.52	$3.08M
Sell (S)	15,873	$233.25	$3.70M
Sell (S)	39,442	$234.61	$9.25M
Sell (S)	57,475	$235.44	$13.53M
Sell (S)	8,647	$236.17	$2.04M
Total Sold	134,662	$234.49 avg	$31.6M

Every exercised option was sold the same day. After the transaction, Harris retained approximately 139,767 shares in his primary account.

Harris also conducted smaller exercise-and-tax-withholding transactions on Oct 22, Dec 22, and Jan 22 — a quarterly cadence of 1,786 shares exercised with ~50% withheld for taxes. These are consistent with restricted stock vesting, not discretionary sales.

Marc Benioff: $3.2M in Daily Drip Sales

Benioff, Salesforce’s Chair and CEO, took a different approach — a daily exercise-and-sell program running from October 24 through November 3:

Date	Exercised	Sold	Sell Price Range	Est. Value
Oct 24	2,250	1,029	$255–$258	$264K
Oct 27	2,250	2,250	$255–$257	$576K
Oct 28	2,250	2,250	$254–$259	$578K
Oct 29	2,250	2,250	$250–$254	$567K
Oct 30	2,250	2,250	$255–$258	$578K
Oct 31	2,250	2,250	$254–$261	$581K
Nov 3	122	122	$256–$261	$32K
Total	13,622	12,401	$250–$261	$3.18M

All exercises were at the same $161.50 strike price. Benioff exercised 2,250 shares every trading day like clockwork — the textbook 10b5-1 pattern. After these sales, he still holds approximately 11.9 million shares, worth roughly $3 billion at current prices.

On January 13, 2026, Benioff exercised 2 additional shares at $215.17 — likely a minor administrative transaction.

Two Insiders, Two Strategies

The contrast is instructive:

• Harris executed a single large block sale — 134,662 shares in one day. This is more typical of option expiration timing or a planned liquidity event.
• Benioff ran a methodical daily program — exactly 2,250 shares per day for 8 consecutive trading days. This is classic 10b5-1 plan execution, designed to minimize market impact.

Neither pattern is unusual for C-suite executives at a $270B market-cap company. But the combined $35 million in a single quarter from the CEO and CTO is worth noting, particularly with both using the same $161.50 strike price — suggesting options from the same grant vintage.

Career Selling Totals

• Marc Benioff: $11.38 billion in total Form 4 sales across 28,887 transactions since 2004
• Parker Harris: $508.6 million across 8,728 transactions since 2004

What to Watch

• Benioff’s next exercise cycle: The Oct–Nov daily program appears complete. Watch for whether a new 10b5-1 cycle begins in Q1 2026.
• Harris’s quarterly vesting: His regular Oct/Dec/Jan exercise pattern suggests another transaction around April 2026.
• CRM earnings: Salesforce’s next earnings report will be the market’s primary data point. These insider sales preceded any Q4 results disclosure.

Track insider activity for Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, and Salesforce (CRM) on 13F Insight.