Salesforce to acquire workplace app ‘Slack’

NEW YORK: Salesforce.com has agreed to buy workplace messaging app ‘Slack’ Technologies Inc in a $27.7 billion deal, the biggest by the cloudcomputing pioneer as it bets on an extended run for remote working and sharpens its rivalry with Microsot.

The deal enables Salesforce to provide a unified plaform for businesses to connect their employees, customers and partners with each other and the apps they use, bolstering its enterprise porfolio.

For Slack, the deal comes as it struggles to fully capitalize on the switch to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slack changed workplace communications by focusing on real-time messaging that could be broken into conversations with groups assembled on the fly, a more nimble plaform than email.

But the messaging style that Slack helped create has become an extremely competitive space, with larger, older competitor Microsot Corp aggressively promoting its similar Teams product with integrated video and voice calling.

Microsot has also bundled Teams with many of its office sotware packages, an added atraction for companies looking to save costs during the disruption caused by the outbreak.

“The deal allows Salesforce to get deeper into collaboration and business communication and it’s good for Slack, especially to grow their penetration into non-tech companies,” DA Davidson analyst Rishi Jaluria said.

Slack shareholders will receive $26.79 in cash and 0.0776 shares of Salesforce common stock for each Slack share, or $45.5 per share based on Salesforce’s closing price on Tuesday.