Salesforce to acquire Slack for $28 billion

Salesforce announced its intention Tuesday to acquire workplace messaging service Slack for $27.7 billion in cash and stock.

If completed, the deal will be one of the biggest software mergers in recent memory and the latest in a series of bets on remote work by tech companies.

Stewart Butterfield, who founded Slack in 2010, will stay on as CEO of the company.

“Stewart and his team have built one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history, with an incredible ecosystem around it,” Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said in a statement. “This is a match made in heaven.”

The deal is scheduled to close sometime in the middle of 2021, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Salesforce noted in its press release that it has the backing of Slack shareholders representing 55 percent of shares.