Block was widely seen as a potential successor to Benioff, who founded the company in 1999, and will continue as the chairman.

Block stepped into the co-CEO role in 2018, after a long career at the company that saw him become vice chairman, president and director before he took this position. Block spent the early years of his career at Oracle . He left there in 2012 after the release of a number of documents in which he criticised then-Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.

This time there does not appear to be any bad blood about the move. Block will stay on as an advisor to Benioff.

The company has spent more than $16 billion last year for acquisitions, adding muscle to its cloud products as it fends off competition from bigger rivals like Oracle and SAP.

Salesforce forecast first-quarter revenue between $4.88 billion and $4.89 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $4.84 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company reported a net loss of $248 million, or 28 cents per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with a net income of $362 million, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned 66 cents per share, beating estimates of 56 cents per share. The company’s total revenue rose 34.6 percent to $4.85 billion, above estimates of $4.75 billion.