Salesforce buys Slack for $27.7bn [UPDATED]
UPDATE Salesforce has completed its Slack acquisition, the company's biggest to date. Salesforce paid $27.7 billion for the business messaging app
Salesforce is buying messaging platform Slack in a deal valuing the company at around $27.7 billion.
The move comes as technology companies scrabble for ownership of a post-pandemic move to hybrid working where employees need effective communication, productivity and sharing tools on an everything-everywhere basis.
Salesforce intends to combine Slack with its Salesforce Customer 360 platform, describing the resulting product as “transformative for customers and the industry”. A statement from Slack said: “The combination will create the operating system for the new way to work, uniquely enabling companies to grow and succeed in the all-digital world.”
'Made in heaven'
Marc Benioff, chair and CEO of Salesforce said, “Stewart and his team have built one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history, with an incredible ecosystem around it. This is a match made in heaven. Together, Salesforce and Slack will shape the future of enterprise software and transform the way everyone works in the all-digital, work-from-anywhere world. I’m thrilled to welcome Slack to the Salesforce ohana [family] once the transaction closes.”
Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and co-founder, said, “Salesforce started the cloud revolution, and two decades later, we are still tapping into all the possibilities it offers to transform the way we work. The opportunity we see together is massive. As software plays a more and more critical role in the performance of every organisation, we share a vision of reduced complexity, increased power and flexibility and, ultimately, a greater degree of alignment and organisational agility. Personally, I believe this is the most strategic combination in the history of software, and I can’t wait to get going.”
Slack stock
Slack integrates with 2,400 productivity apps, leading the companies to claim their combined product “will create the most extensive open ecosystem of apps and workflows for business”.
