Microsoft CEO reportedly nixed proposal to acquire Slack for $8 billion

The CEO and co-founder of Microsoft reportedly passed on an internal proposal by one of their top executives to acquire the business-based messaging service Slack. The idea was to spend as much as $8 billion on the deal.

According to TechCrunch's sources, the idea to buy Slack came from Qi Lu, Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Applications and Services Group, which is in charge of divisions like Bing, Office 365 and Skype. The report states:

"Microsoft eyed Slack as a potential acquisition target for as much as $8 billion, TechCrunch has heard. But an internal campaign around making an offer failed to drum up support. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and CEO Satya Nadella were among those unconvinced by the idea, with Gates pushing instead to add more features into Skype to make it more competitive with Slack in the business market, our source says."

There's no word if Microsoft made any formal offer to Slack. Both companies would not comment for TechCrunch's article.

Source: TechCrunch

John Callaham