Slack is a relatively new messaging platform that’s rapidly gaining popularity, particularly among enterprise users as it more than just holds a candle to the likes of Skype. Several new features are being added to Slack in the near future which will make it compete more effectively against Skype. According to a new report, Microsoft did think about buying Slack for as much as $8 billion but didn’t go through with the idea due to opposition within the company.
TechCrunch reports that Microsoft mulled acquiring Slack for $8 billion but many in the company did not agree with the idea. It’s said that CEO Satya Nadella and former CEO and founder Bill Gates were both not completely sold on the idea.
Qi Lu, executive vice president of applications and services at Microsoft, was reportedly behind the push to acquire Slack. Apparently he wasn’t able to convince CEO Satya Nadella or Bill Gates, both of them were reportedly not completely satisfied with the proposal, and thus Microsoft decided not to pursue the idea.
Even if Microsoft had offered $8 billion for Slack it can’t be said for sure if the company would have accepted the offer, or if it would have asked for more, as Slack already has 2.3 million users with nearly 700,000 of them paying users. Revenues are picking up and are expected to rise in the years to come.
The value’s there in the company which is why it may not have immediately agreed to an acquisition by Microsoft. This is just speculation but at least, we know Microsoft won’t be trying to pick up Slack in the near future.