Salesforce.com, Inc., a software company and cloud computing giant based in California, is set to pay a crazy amount of $27.7 billion in efforts to acquire popular work and office tool, Slack. Last Tuesday (12/1), the acquisition news surfaced as The Guardian reported, and the deal marked as Salesforce's biggest sale in its 21-year history.
"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 November 30, 2020," the press statement reads.
Barron's noted that Salesforce had lost about 15 percent of its value since last November when the first rumor of the acquisition surfaced online. The big-money merger is such a massive risk to take, especially when Salesforce would pay 30 times more expensive than Slack Technologies' current market value amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
When the deal goes through, Slack could access Salesforce's cloud-computing service, something Microsoft is inferior of, making work even more comfortable
Tag-Team Fight Against Microsoft
However, analysts believe that following the merger, the two companies would have a much better chance at competing with its rivals and tech powerhouse, Microsoft.
Previously in July, Slack Technologies complaint to the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of illegally tying Teams into its Office 365 bundle, which consists of essential tools like Microsoft Words, Excel, and PowerPoint. In a way, it could possibly block customers from preferring Slack.
The cold feud has been going on for so long, especially after Salesforce lost the bid to Microsoft in the LinkedIn acquisition back in 2016. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner simply stated that Microsoft offered more money and less risk, which, by the way, has already introduced stories and video conference features like Slack.
One of the most-wanted Salesforce customer manager relationship products, Salesforce CRM, also contradicts Microsoft Dynamics.
Familiar Face
Salesforce was started in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff and several other workmates. The aim is to provide software as a cloud-computing service, demolishing the cumbersome process of installing each software into a device or a home computer.
As COVID-19 batters every corner of the world, people are forced to work, study, and socialize from home. That's when Microsoft, Zoom, Google, and Slack all come together to give a solution.
Whether we like it or not, the pandemic has changed the way we see our jobs and studies. All big players in the tech world understand that it's almost impossible to return to what it was in 2019, but only time will tell if Salesforce made the right decision.
