X

Salesforce to acquire Slack for nearly $28 billion

With the cash and stock deal, the messaging platform will be "deeply integrated into every Salesforce Cloud," the companies say.

abrar-al-heeti2
abrar-al-heeti2
Abrar Al-Heeti Video producer / CNET
Abrar Al-Heeti is a video host and producer for CNET, with an interest in internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. Before joining the video team, she was a writer for CNET's culture team. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET breaking down the latest trends on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, while also reporting on diversity and inclusion initiatives in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has twice been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
slack-logo-phone-6489

Soon to be a unit of Salesforce.

Angela Lang/CNET

Salesforce on Tuesday said it would acquire Slack for $27.7 billion in cash and stock. The messaging platform will be "deeply integrated into every Salesforce Cloud," the companies wrote in a statement. When the transaction closes, Slack will be an operating unit of Salesforce, and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield will continue to lead the platform.

"Stewart and his team have built one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history, with an incredible ecosystem around it," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in the statement. "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."

The acquisition comes amid a jump in remote work due to the coronavirus pandemic. In October, Slack teased new features, including push-to-talk audio calls, Instagram-like stories and the ability for people from any company to send users direct messages.

"Salesforce and Slack will give companies a single source of truth for their business and a unified platform for connecting employees, customers and partners with each other and the apps they use every day, all within their existing workflows," the companies said.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce's fiscal year 2022, pending approval by Slack stockholders, regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

Following reports of a possible acquisition last week, shares of Slack rose nearly 30%.