With the announcement of his resignation on November 30, Salesforce (CRM  ) co-CEO Bret Taylor seems to have shocked everyone, including his fellow co-CEO, Marc Benioff. Taylor says he wants to return to his entrepreneurial roots, shaking up expectations that he would eventually fully take over as CEO.

Taylor first came on board at Salesforce in 2016 when the company purchased Quip, a word-processing app that Taylor co-founded. Taylor got along well with Benioff, who was serving as sole CEO at the time, and he soon emerged as Benioff's apparent successor.

Taylor has served as co-CEO for less than two years and will stay on in his position through the end of the fiscal year. Unlike the recent ousting of former Disney (DIS  ) CEO Bob Chapek, it seems that no one was calling for Taylor to leave Salesforce.

"While there is absolutely no easy time for a transition like this, I really do feel that now is the right time for me to return to my entrepreneurial roots, particularly given the technology landscape and the economy going through such tectonic shifts," Taylor said.

In its third-quarter earnings report, the software maker showed a 14% increase in revenue, year-over-year, beating analysts' expectations.

"This quarter has been further proof of our commitment to profitable growth, continuing our operating margin growth, continued focus on our revenue growth, continued focus on our market share growth," Benioff said in a call with analysts.

During the same call, Benioff revealed the news that Taylor would be stepping down, and the company's impressive Q3 performance has been overshadowed by the hasty departure. Despite reporting $7.8 billion in revenue growth, Salesforce saw a 9% drop in its share price following Taylor's resignation announcement.

This wasn't the first time Salesforce has lost a co-CEO, and it may not be the last. According to Gartner analyst Jason Wong, Benioff "is still very much committed to running Salesforce", and he isn't likely to fully step away while the company is still passing milestones.

"Co-CEO arrangements are historically challenging long-term relationships, but it seems to be one which Marc seems to favor for succession planning as well as allowing him to pursue broader philanthropic interests," Wong said.

When Taylor became co-CEO in 2021, he was replacing the prior co-CEO, Keith Block. Benioff chose Block for the position in 2018, and Block left the company roughly two years later, much like Taylor.

Taylor has held other powerful positions in Silicon Valley. Along with his time at Google (GOOGL  ) and Facebook (META  ), Taylor also served as the board chair at Twitter up until Elon Musk purchased the company and dissolved the board in October.