Salesforce buys Slack for $27.7bn [UPDATED]

By Paddy Smith
Salesforce Customer 360 and Slack to be combined creating ‘the operating system for the new way to work...

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

undefined

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”.

Share

Featured Articles

Celonis Data Insights Driving BMW's Sustainability Journey

Celonis and the BMW Group have strengthened their partnership to optimise the auto giant’s processes and increase efficiency, productivity & sustainability

How Zoom is Using AI Innovation to Reimagine Teamwork

Zoom has announced Workplace, its new AI-powered collaboration platform, to help reimagine teamwork, facilitate connections and improve productivity

How SAP is Accelerating Deutsche Telekom’s Cloud Journey

Europe’s largest telecommunications provider Deutsche Telekom is using RISE with SAP to accelerate its journey to the cloud

Alibaba Cloud’s Dr Li Feifei: Combining AI & Cloud Computing

Data & Data Analytics

Mustafa Suleyman: DeepMind Cofounder is new Microsoft AI CEO

AI & Machine Learning

Nvidia Blackwell Aims to Continue Powering AI Acceleration

AI & Machine Learning