After $27.7 billion deal, Salesforce aims to connect companies via Slack

Business software maker Salesforce.com on Wednesday closed its $27.7 billion purchase of Slack Technologies Inc, a massive bet that Slack’s workplace app will become popular for collaborations within and between companies.

U.S. antitrust regulators cleared the deal this week, allowing the creation of a stronger challenger to Microsoft Corp, the top workplace software provider whose Teams app competes with Slack for market dominance.

The merger partners hope the deal will bolster efforts to connect their joint customers to smooth out common business deals, Salesforce President Bret Taylor and Slack Chief Executive Stewart Butterfield said in an interview on Wednesday.