Salesforce has signed a definitive agreement to acquired work-chatting service Slack for $US27.7 billion ($37.6 billion).
The merger will see Slack be “deeply integrated into every Salesforce Cloud”, with the Slack interface set to be adopted as the new interface for Salesforce Customer 360.
“This is a match made in heaven,” said Salesforce chair and CEO Marc Benioff.
“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 once the transaction closes.”
The move will also give Slack more backing to compete with Microsoft and continue to expand its enterprise footprint.
Earlier this year, Slack filed a complaint to the European Commission against Microsoft, which claimed: “Microsoft has illegally tied its Teams product into its market-dominant Office productivity suite”.
There were also reports in 2016 that Microsoft had considered making a play to acquire Slack for $US8 billion.
Slack has enjoyed a huge surge in users this year as more and more companies move to remote work. In March it was revealed the service had gained 2.5 million simultaneous users that month.
The company has not disclosed a daily user figure since October 2019, when it revealed there were 12 million people using the service daily.
“As software plays a more and more critical role in the performance of every organization, we share a vision of reduced complexity, increased power and flexibility, and ultimately a greater degree of alignment and organizational agility,” said Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield.
“Personally, I believe this is the most strategic combination in the history of software, and I can’t wait to get going.”
The transaction is expected to close in 2022.
