In the NYTimes interview with Butterfield, he was clear that the money is because it's so easy to raise money right now. Having a huge battlechest is useful fo

In the NYTimes interview with Butterfield, he was clear that the money is because it's so easy to raise money right now. Having a huge battlechest is useful for being able to try risky new verticals without risking future growth too much. Like how they purchased that video chat startup and integrate that with Slack. He also talked about having cash to be able to give more to employees in the various situations, since stock options are useless in the case where Slack won't be public for 20 years.