The world this weekBusinessSalesforce agreed to buy Slack for $27.7bn, combining its range of business software with a chat platform tailored to companies.United they will increase competition for Microsoft,which has pulled ahead of many rivals in this year of working from home, when firms have relied on cloud services more than ever.Microsoft’s Teams platform has also been a formidable challenger to Slack.Shares in Slack have performed poorly compared with other providers of remote tech.Zoom, one of the chief beneficiaries from the turn to remote working, reported that revenue soared by 367% in its latest quarter, year on year, to $777m.But its share price took another knock, as the news on vaccines and the prospect of a return to office normality raised more questions about its future.There was more consolidation in the data-provision industry, as S&P Global , best known for compiling credit ratings,struck a deal to acquire IHS Markit, an American-British information provider.At $44bn, it is the largest takeover in America this year.Airbnb said it would price its forthcoming IPO at between $44 and $50 a share, which would value it at up to $35bn.That is double a private estimate from earlier this year, when the home-rental firm was hit by lockdowns.
