SoftBank held a 7% stake in the enterprise messaging tool developer when it listed 18 months ago at a $13.1bn valuation, its backers also including GV and Comcast Ventures.

Enterprise software producer Salesforce agreed yesterday to buy Slack, the US-based, publicly listed communication platform developer that counts corporates SoftBank, Alphabet and Comcast as backers, for $27.7bn.

The deal will consist of $26.8bn in cash with the rest set to come in Salesforce shares. Slack floated in a direct listing in June 2019 with a $26.00 guidance price valuing it at about $13.1bn, and its shares closed at $43.84 yesterday.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund owned a 7.3% stake prior to…

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.