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Salesforce acquires Slack in $27.7bn mega deal

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 02 Dec 2020

Cloud computing giant Salesforce is acquiring enterprise communications platform Slack, the companies announced yesterday.

The deal is said to be one of the most significant acquisitions in the business software industry in years and Salesforce’s largest acquisition to date.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of a week of rumours and Slack's value reaching a record high on the stock market in anticipation of it being made official.

Salesforce is paying $27.7 billion for Slack.

“Under the terms of the agreement, 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 30 November 2020,” the announcement reads.

The transaction is anticipated to close in the second quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2022, subject to approval by Slack stockholders, the receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Salesforce expects to fund the cash portion of the transaction consideration with a combination of new debt and cash on Salesforce’s balance sheet. It has obtained a commitment from Citigroup Global Markets, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase Bank, for a $10 billion senior unsecured 364-day bridge loan facility, subject to customary conditions.

According to the companies, combining Slack with Salesforce Customer 360 will be "transformative for customers and the industry", and will create an operating system for the new world of work, enabling companies to grow and succeed in today’s all-digital world.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, says Slack has become one of the most popular platforms in enterprise software history.

“This is a match made in heaven. 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,” Benioff added.

“Salesforce started the cloud revolution, and two decades later, we are still tapping into all the possibilities it offers to transform the way we work. The opportunity we see together is massive,” comments Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and co-founder.

According to Butterfield, as software plays an increasingly crucial role in the performance of every enterprise, the companies share a vision of reduced complexity, increased power and flexibility, and ultimately a greater degree of alignment and organisational agility.

“Personally, I believe this is the most strategic combination in the history of software, and I can’t wait to get going,” ends Butterfield.

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