The San Francisco-based customer relationship-management platform will pay cash and stock for the workplace messaging service. (The Logic)
Talking point: Public market investors haven’t loved Slack since its June 2019 direct listing, with the stock staying well below its opening-day close for much of its first year on the New York Stock Exchange amid concerns about growth and competition from Microsoft Teams. The company actually beat its guidance for its fiscal third quarter ended October 31, with revenues of US$234.5 million, a 39 per cent year-over-year increase. The deal gives Slack a tech giant’s resources to hold off Teams, and adds another arena to Salesforce’s rivalry with Microsoft. It’ll also bring CEO Butterfield more than US$1 billion in cash and US$725 million in Salesforce stock; he’s previously pledged stock to Science World, a B.C. education initiative.