Slack, the fast-growing office messaging tool valued at $3.8 billion, is up for the sale and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is interested in acquiring the startup.
Reports from Bloomberg and Business Insider suggest that Amazon could pay up to $9 billion to acquire Slack.
Previously, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield has said that it has no interest in selling Slack and has rejected many acquisitions offers over the years from different parties. According to Butterfield, his goal is to turn the startup into an independent, sustainable company.
Amazon is betting on business software in a bid to take on Microsoft Office and Google G Suite. The e-commerce giant, which wants to be everything store, recently introduced Chime, a Skype rival, with reports suggesting that the online retailer is planning to launch its own version of Microsoft Office.
According to the report from Business Insider, “the technology and talent at Slack could give Amazon a killer edge” as it “ramps up its strategy for an assault on the dominance of Microsoft Office and Google Gsuite”
About Slack
Slack is an acronym for “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge”. It was launched in August 2013.
Are you familiar with Internet Relay Chat or IRC chat app?
Slack offers a lot of IRC-like features, including chat rooms organized by topic and private groups and direct messaging.
Slack can be integrated with a large number of third-party services including Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox, Box, Heroku, IBM Bluemix, Crashlytics, GitHub, Runscope and Zendesk. It has its own app directory, consisting of more than 150 integrations.
The company’s investors include Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Comcast Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Thrive Capital, GGV, Comcast Ventures, Accel, Index Ventures and Social Capital.
