Report says Amazon is among several companies interested in buying Slack for over $9 billion (AMZN)

pulse

June 15, 2017 9:56 AM

A deal would most likely value Slack in excess of $9 billion.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Amazon is one of several tech companies interested in acquiring the Slack chat platform, according to a Bloomberg report that cites people familiar with the situation.

Slack's business-oriented messaging service has been widely adopted by companies worldwide including the likes of Airbnb, Harvard University, Samsung, and BuzzFeed since it launched in 2013.

Investors have backed the platform with about $540 million (£423 million), including $200 million (£157 million) that the company raised last April.

An acquisition deal could value Slack at over $9 billion (£7 billion), Bloomberg's sources reportedly said, adding that Slack may not accept any of the offers.

Amazon was first known for its e-commerce platform, but the company is expanding into an increasing number of fields including food delivery and cloud storage.

Of the so-called big-five tech companies in the US, Amazon is the only one without a messaging platform. Apple has iMessage, Facebook has Messenger, Microsoft has Outlook and Teams, and Google has Hangouts.

Slack is free to download and use, but it charges companies per user when they want access to special features such as access to an unlimited communication history, support, and statistics.

The company reportedly has about 5 million daily active users, with 1.5 million of those paying for the service.

Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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