{
  "id": 16625036,
  "title": "Slack's Original Employees Blog the Inside Story of the $27.7B Salesforce Sale",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/26/slacks-original-employees-blog-the-inside-story-of-the-27-7b",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-26T15:42:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "HackerNoon",
    "slug": "hackernoon",
    "url": "https://hackernoon.com/slacks-original-employees-blog-the-inside-story-of-the-$277b-salesforce-sale?source=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Two of Slack's original eight employees have spent over two years blogging the inside story of the $27.7 billion Salesforce sale. Their latest post, \"Salesforce – Part Two,\" published on October 23, 2026, covers the years following the acquisition. The post offers unique insights from key figures like Stewart Butterfield, who mentioned meeting Marc Benioff for just an hour before the sale announcement.\n\nFounders Rodgers and Rayl aim to tell the story of how the team built Slack, rather than just what the product achieved. They run no ads and publish on no fixed schedule, focusing on legacy and reputation instead of revenue. While the founders review their notes and provide first-hand detail, readers should consider the founders' influence on the story, the lack of response from Salesforce executives, and the time gap between writing and the events described.\n\nThe archive reveals Slack faced several challenges before the acquisition, including trying to buy Salesforce's Quip and criticism of Slack's spending on celebrity appearances and retreats. Salesforce reps also had no incentive to sell Slack, as it wasn't a dashboard metric for them. Benioff praised Slack's Huddles feature, yet it's clear he didn't use Slack himself. These revelations provide a more comprehensive understanding of the events leading up to the $27.7 billion deal.",
  "summary": "Two original Slack employees blog the inside story of Salesforce's $27.7B buy: what broke, what's new, and ask was the acquisition worth the $27.7B?",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}