Salesforce reportedly held talks to buy Slack, which could help Slack stand up to Microsoft

What you need to know

• Salesforce reportedly held talks to purchase communication platform Slack.
• The deal could potentially be worth tens of billions of dollars.
• Slack being purchased by Salesforce could help it compete more with Microsoft.

Cloud computing giant Salesforce is reportedly interested in purchasing Slack (via CNBC). A Dow Jones report states that Salesforce has been in talks with Slack and that a potential deal would "likely value Slack at more than its current market capitalization of $17 billion." The talks appear to be in early stages and are subject to change or fall through entirely.

Slack shares skyrocketed following reports of interest from Salesforce. Based on Slack's share value, the company is valued at roughly $20.8 billion. As noted by TechCrunch, Slack's share value has a tendency to fluctuate.

Salesforce has made some big purchases in recent years, including a $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft in 2018 and a $15.3 billion purchase of Tableau in 2019. A potential purchase of Slack would likely be more than either of those past acquisitions by a sizeable margin.

The possibility of a move involving Slack and Salesforce could affect Microsoft significantly. Microsoft's cloud computing efforts compete with Salesforce. Microsoft Teams also goes head-to-head against Slack, even if the Slack CEO doesn't think so. There's so much overlap, in fact, that Microsoft was reportedly interested in purchasing both Salesforce and Slack at different times.

It's unclear at this what a potential acquisition would look like, but the combination of the Salesforce and Slack customer base would be sizeable. Salesforce and Slack both have strong footholds with enterprises. If Slack was acquired by Salesforce, it could put more weight behind the communication platform.

Neither Salesforce nor Slack have shared statements on the reports of a potential acquisition.