Salesforce Closes $27.7B Slack Acquisition, Preparing For Microsoft Teams Battle

‘Together we’ll define the future of enterprise software, creating the digital HQ that enables every organization to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere,’ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says in a statement.

Salesforce said Wednesday that it officially closed its blockbuster $27.7 billion acquisition of collaboration app Slack as the San Francisco tech giant aims to enter the work-from-anywhere technology arena.

Slack said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 16 that the U.S. Department of Justice had closed its antitrust investigation into the acquisition. The companies announced the acquisition in December.

“Together we’ll define the future of enterprise software, creating the digital HQ that enables every organization to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement.

[RELATED: Salesforce Channel Partners Look For Slack Integrations Ahead of Acquisition Closing]

Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield will continue to lead the new subsidiary within Salesforce.

Slack had 169,000 paid customers as of the end of April 2021 and generated $273.4 million in revenue in the three months ended April 30, 2021. The company has 2,597 employees.

The Slack acquisition comes during a competitive time for collaborative apps, with apps like Slack and Zoom competing against Microsoft’s Teams app.

Some Salesforce partners have already started working with Slack. Gerry Szatvanyi, CEO of OSF Digital -- which is based in Quebec and has offices in San Francisco, New York and Massachusetts -- told CRN recently that the Salesforce partner has already worked Slack into its Salesforce portfolio for customer support and service cases. OSF has seen its Salesforce revenue grow north of 30 percent year over year.

Gireesh Sonnad, CEO of New York-based Salesforce channel partner Silverline, recently told CRN that his company has seen business opportunities from fellow Salesforce subsidiaries Tableau and MuleSoft and that he looks forward to learning how he can leverage Slack.

“Salesforce does a good job of bringing together these different products to one platform,” Sonnad said. “We’re always looking for more integrations. Making these different products run smoother is always appreciated. But that’s part of the natural evolution.”

Salesforce stock was up a modest .85 percent to $242.16 early Wednesday afternoon.