Salesforce Buys Slack For $27.7 Billion, How Does The Deal Affect Microsoft?

Business software maker Salesforce on Tuesday acquired messaging app Slack Technologies Inc. for $27.7 billion. The move was indicative of how cloud computing giants are in an increasingly competitive battle to gain a stronger market share during the pandemic.

"Slack shareholders will receive $26.79 in cash and 0.0776 shares of Salesforce common stock for each Slack share, representing an enterprise value of approximately $27.7 billion based on the closing price of Salesforce’s common stock on November 30, 2020," read a statement from Salesforce.

Salesforce’s acquisition comes at a much needed time as the communication company as it faces Microsoft. The Wall Street Journal reported how the ambitious move to acquire Slack doesn't mean Salesforce can compete with the tech behemoth. The Journal's headline wasn't ambiguous: "Salesforce Plus Slack Doesn’t Equal Microsoft."

“When you’re a scrappy start-up going against an 800-pound gorilla that’s one of the most well-capitalized companies in existence, it’s tough to compete,” said Logan Purk, a senior analyst with Edward Jones. “This is more or less saying: ‘We can’t compete with Microsoft Teams anymore. We need more firepower.”

Microsoft 365 offers its usual services such as PowerPoint, Word and Excel. However, Microsoft added a team messaging app to Office 365, which offers customers an alternative to Slack.

Slack previously filed a complaint against Microsoft and argued that Office 365 was illegally deterring customers away from Slack.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has made strong efforts to compete with Microsoft. Salesforce had tried to acquire networking site LinkedIn but fell short to Microsoft.

"For Benioff, [the deal to acquire Slack] is all about Microsoft," Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst, said in a statement. "It's just clear Microsoft is moving further and further away from Salesforce when it comes to the cloud wars."

Benioff is no stranger to large acquisitions. Salesforce previously purchased integration platform MuleSoft for $6.5 billion and data visualization company Tableau for $15.3 billion. However, the Slack deal is the largest in Salesforce’s history.

Some experts questioned Benioff’s deal as Slack struggles amid the pandemic.

“We have been surprised by the limited success Slack has seen from the pandemic and the rise of remote work,” Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, said in a statement.

“Microsoft Teams has been able to capitalize on the opportunity presented by the pandemic better than Slack, in our view, and this rapid growth in adoption has hurt Slack,” Jaluria added.

But experts also applauded Slack for receiving such a large deal while competitors chip away at its earnings.

"This is a stellar exit strategy for Slack," said Kate Leggett, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Microsoft Teams is eating Slack's lunch."