Salesforce completes $27.7 billion Slack acquisition

Cloud computing company Salesforce announced that it has completed its acquisition of business communication platform Slack.

Slack shared details of the $27.7 billion acquisition on Wednesday, touting the partnership of “two of the software industry’s most dynamic communities.”

The company said the move will create “an open and extensive ecosystem that will deliver the next generation of digital-first apps and workflows for business.”

You may have heard there would come a day when Slack became a part of @salesforce, and it turns out that day is today!

What does this mean? We’re still the Slack you know and love—just a little better.  https://t.co/Ak8bKx8wRl

— Slack (@SlackHQ) July 21, 2021

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Slack as part of the Salesforce family, combining the #1 [customer relationship management] and the trailblazing digital platform for the work anywhere world,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in the statement.

“Together we’ll define the future of enterprise software, creating the digital HQ that enables every organization to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere,” he said.

Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield called it a “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink and reshape how and where we work,” saying the companies “are uniquely positioned to lead this historic shift to a digital-first world. I could not be more excited for what’s to come.”

This comes as Slack has gained major attention from other internet giants including Microsoft in past years, with Butterfield arguing in an interview in 2020 that “Microsoft is perhaps unhealthily preoccupied with killing us.”

Butterfield and Salesforce President and COO Bret Taylor will host an event on Aug. 17 on their new partnership, according to the Wednesday statement.