Global customer relationship management (CRM) giant Salesforce will buy Slack in a $27.7bn USD ($37.5bn AUD) deal.
The major rival to Microsoft’s Teams, Slack boasts 12 million users worldwide. The takeover will see the communication platform integrated as the new interface for Salesforce Customer 360, which Slack and Salesforce have hailed as a boon for working from home.
According to Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and Co-Founder, Salesforce represents a “massive opportunity” for the service, which will be able to expand its footprint across the enterprise sector.
“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.
“Personally, I believe this is the most strategic combination in the history of software, and I can’t wait to get going,” he said.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff adds that the deal is a “match made in heaven”, calling Slack “one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history” and praising its ecosystem.
“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,” he said.
The transaction is expected to close in the 2022 financial year.
