Salesforce announced on Wednesday that Keith Block, co-chief executive officer, is calling it quits. The announcement also includes a $1.3 billion purchase of a Cloud company.

Block's exit leaves company founder Marc Benioff as the sole chief executive and chairman of the CRM giant. Block's profile has already been deleted from the company's corporate page.

Block was appointed as operations director in 2016 after joining Salesforce in 2013. He was picked as co-CEO to Benioff in August 2018. Block's strengths operations were expected to supplement the co-founder's focus on growth and innovation.

Before he joined Salesforce, Block worked with Oracle for 26 years. He will continue working with Salesforce as an adviser for one more year, the company said.

In a statement, Block said that it has been his "greatest honor to Salesforce with Marc that's more than quadrupled the company from $4 billion in 2013 to more than $17 billion in 2019.     

Block left Oracle in 2012 following the release of a number of documents in which he condemned then-Oracle chief executive Mark Hurd, who died last year.

During a conference call, Benioff described Block as an "incredible leader" who has helped position Salesforce as a globally competitive company. "I am his biggest supporter, close friend, and I'm here to help him on his journey."

Shares of Salesforce initially plunged 3 percent in after-hours session on Tuesday after the company said Block is resigning. The company also announced fiscal fourth-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street analysts' projections, along with an acquisition. Revenue was up 35 percent in the current quarter ending January 31, Salesforce said.

In a related development, the company also disclosed Wednesday that it has appointed former BT Group chief executive officer Gavin Patterson as its president and top executive of Salesforce International.

Salesforce also disclosed it would use Cloud infrastructure from rival Microsoft Corp, and it promoted Bret Taylor, an executive who joined the company in 2016 via its Quip acquisition, to the chief of operations.

Separately, Salesforce bared its plans to buy Vlocity, an industry Cloud and mobile operating system provider, for around $1.3 billion. The deal is estimated to be signed in the second quarter of next year.

Vlocity was developed on the Salesforce platform and serves a host of industries, including media, entertainment, communications, energy, insurance, health and the government.

Meanwhile, Stifel analysts led by Tom Roderick, who placed a 'Buy' rating on stocks of Salesforce, said they heard Salesforce sign five enterprise license deals with Fortune 100 companies in the quarter.