Salesforce’s Splashy Slack Deal Isn't Worth the Risk
Acquiring the popular workplace messaging platform will help Salesforce better compete with Microsoft, but it isn’t a perfect fit.
Salesforce’s best acquisitions have provided a distinct solution related directly to its core business. Slack doesn’t.
Photographer: Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images
Salesforce.com Inc. is betting big on the staying power of remote work by buying Slack Technologies Inc. But is the splashy takeover of the workplace messaging leader worth the risk? I don’t think so.
Late Tuesday, Salesforce announced a definitive agreement to acquire Slack for about $28 billion in cash and stock, confirming recent reports by the Wall Street Journal and others. The value of the purchase tops Salesforce’s previous largest deal, last year’s $15.7 billion purchase of Tableau Software, marking founder and CEO Marc Benioff's biggest wager yet.