Salesforce has struggled to increase profits and recently projected revenue growth of 8% to 10% in the current period - which would be the slowest year-over-year increase since it went public in 2004. The departures come as many businesses look to cut costs in software-as-a-service spending.Salesforce's share price has dropped nearly 50% year-to-date, and its recent executive exodus might spell more trouble on the horizon: In addition to Butterfield, Slack Chief Product Officer Tamar Yehoshua and Senior Vice President Jonathan Prince will also leave.

Butterfield, who could have replaced Taylor, said he's been planning on leaving for months, and that his departure is just 'weird timing.' He will be replaced by Lidiane Jone, who worked as VP in Salesforce's cloud divisions, making her the latest in a long line of possible successors to the seemingly irreplaceable – and somehow still Salesforce CEO – Marc Benioff. The news comes less than a week after Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor announced that he will step down from his position at the end of January. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield announced Monday he plans to leave the software company a little over a year after Salesforce acquired it for $28 billion, and he's not alone. No more morning brush notifications for this guy. It's completely free and we guarantee you'll learn something new every day.

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