Salesforce will acquire Slack for $28 billion – CNET [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%.