Salesforce’s Benioff Escalates Microsoft Rivalry With Slack (1)

Salesforce.com Inc.’s $27.7 billion takeover of Slack Technologies Inc. represents co-founder Marc Benioff’s most aggressive effort yet to challenge reigning software maker Microsoft Corp.

The cash-and-stock deal, announced Tuesday and expected to close by July, will bring a workplace-communications application that’s grown more popular during the coronavirus pandemic to Salesforce’s ever-expanding platform. In the process, the app maker will come into greater conflict with the world’s largest software company, which offers a competing product named Teams.

The purchase of Slack, an existing partner with less than $1 billion in annual revenue, fulfills Benioff’s long-held goal to make ...