Salesforce’s Slack deal takes the fight to Microsoft

Salesforce US$27.7-billion takeover of Slack Technologies represents co-founder Marc Benioff’s most aggressive effort yet to challenge reigning software marker Microsoft. 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…