The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked for a second round of information on Salesforce’s acquisition of Slack.
Salesforce announced in December that it was purchasing Slack for $27.7 billion. The move was seen as a way for both companies to better compete with Microsoft. Salesforce has come under increasing pressure as Microsoft has gone after Salesforce’s core CRM business. Likewise, Slack has gone from the market leader in corporate messaging to falling far behind Microsoft Teams.
One of the biggest factors in Teams surpassing Slack is its being bundled with Microsoft Office. In fact, Slack filed a complaintwith the EU over Microsoft’s actions.
The last hurdle before the sale can be finalized is regulatory approval. According to CNBC, the DOJ has asked for additional information from the two companies. Salesforce does not anticipate any delays as a result of the additional inquiry, with the company still expecting to close the deal in the quarter ending in July.
Nonetheless, the second inquiry could be another indication of additional scrutiny of tech mergers. Facebook and Google are both facing antitrust cases. In Facebook’s case, in particular, the company’s acquisitions of smaller competitors, such as WhatsApp, has been cited as a concern.
The US may be preparing to take a tougher stance on tech consolidation, especially if it places too much power or control in the hands of one company.