Billionaire Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff loves the cheapest version of Uber - here's why
Business Insider/Eugene Kim
On stage at Dreamforce, Salesforce's annual conference, Benioff revealed that he recently took Uber Pool, Uber's car pool service in which random riders are matched and taken to their respective destinations in the same car. Under this system, each rider gets to split their fare, making it a more affordable option.
Benioff says he got to share his ride with a young man working for Goldman Sachs. Although it was a random meeting, Benioff says he enjoyed the overall experience.
"It was pretty cool actually. It was a good ride sharing experience, but also a great way to meet somebody else," Benioff told Uber CEO Travis Kalanick during a fireside chat at Dreamforce on Wednesday.
But when asked about it, Kalanick said Uber Pool was more than just a cheaper service: it represents everything Uber wants to do in the future.
Because Uber Pool is so much more convenient and affordable than other Uber services, it's already becoming one of the most popular options among its users. As Uber Pool grows in size, more people will start using it while dropping the average cost of taking Uber rides.
"You'll no longer have parking problems in San Francisco, no longer traffic congestion...and you also create tens of thousands of jobs in the city," Kalanick said, noting that Uber Pool is less profitable for the company, but one of the most popular services among the users.
"We're already doing over 100,000 people in each city Uber Pooling every week...almost half of our rides in San Francisco are Uber Pool," he said.
And Kalanick believes Uber's convenience, affordability, and reliability will only help him achieve the bigger vision for his company: getting every car "Uber'd" in the world.
"We want to be everywhere for everyone. If every car in San Francisco is Uber, there'd be no traffic," he said.
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