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I hope this acquisition does not pass regulatory oversight. This is how it starts. Very soon, we will have another competition-killing, anti-competitive behemot

I hope this acquisition does not pass regulatory oversight. This is how it starts. Very soon, we will have another competition-killing, anti-competitive behemoth on our hands like we did with FANGM and then we will suddenly ask ourselves how it all happened. THIS. Right here. Is how it happens.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
The general trend seems to be winner takes all single suppliers in each market segment. They have no direct competition so eventually become a tax on us all.
- CharlesW 6y ago
  > They have no direct competition… I don't understand this sentiment at all. Slack is a nicely-done, enterprise-y chat app with a lot of users, most of who liked the idea of not paying for anything. There are many competitors, including several open source options.
  - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
    Right now but how many competitors does Facebook have or Google. Each operates in its own narrow niche and dominates it. Chat apps will go the same way thanks to the network effects.
    - CharlesW 6y ago
      I think you're right, but I don't think of that as the result of a lack of competitors. In the enterprise space, it's going to be Salesforce/Slack vs. Microsoft/Teams.
  - jeffbee 6y ago
    Yes there are lots of competitors, including ones specialized for various industries. In finance there is Symphony, which along with being less infantile and more straight-laced than Slack also offers integrations with financial information products like factset.
ChrisArchitect 6y ago
right, which big tech acronym has Salesforce in it? gonna need a new one
- ep103 6y ago
  Just add an S, right? FAANG becomes FAANGS
advisedwang 6y ago
This doesn't reduce the number of players in the "team chat system" market, so I doubt it will be blocked given the current FTC.
amb23 6y ago
Salesforce is already a monopoly if you go by volume of revenue earned from CRM. No one other than small/niche SaaS businesses competes directly for CRM business, and any new CRM startups can't get venture funding because it's considered an untouchable space by VCs. Every other large player they compete with in the CRM space (Hubspot, Zendesk, Oracle) offers a CRM as a side product to their main line of business. This transaction shouldn't be the catalyst for regulatory action; regulators should have already taken action.
- reducesuffering 6y ago
  Why is it considered an untouchable space? Because CRM is so dominant? I don't understand what about the space would make it so capital intensive to compete against CRM in. They're internal tech is known to be very legacy and not cutting edge. A tech-competent startup could outmaneuver them. They're an Oracle 2.0, who at the time was also deemed unassailable, until Cloud and OSS databases ate their lunch.
paxys 6y ago
If anything this deal helps increase competition in the collaboration/productivity space, since it was clear that Slack couldn't compete with Microsoft on its own.
Nemo_bis 6y ago
Considering that Slack itself complained to the competition authorities that there is fierce competition from Microsoft and others, eating Slack's lunch, it seems hard. Salesforce can easily claim that the acquisition doesn't reduce competition, because Slack has a very small market share, or even that Slack would soon be bankrupt and needs to be saved. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-anticompetitive-practices-in-eu-complaint.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-a...

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

The general trend seems to be winner takes all single suppliers in each market segment. They have no direct competition so eventually become a tax on us all.

CharlesW 6y ago
> They have no direct competition… I don't understand this sentiment at all. Slack is a nicely-done, enterprise-y chat app with a lot of users, most of who liked the idea of not paying for anything. There are many competitors, including several open source options.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  Right now but how many competitors does Facebook have or Google. Each operates in its own narrow niche and dominates it. Chat apps will go the same way thanks to the network effects.
  - CharlesW 6y ago
    I think you're right, but I don't think of that as the result of a lack of competitors. In the enterprise space, it's going to be Salesforce/Slack vs. Microsoft/Teams.
- jeffbee 6y ago
  Yes there are lots of competitors, including ones specialized for various industries. In finance there is Symphony, which along with being less infantile and more straight-laced than Slack also offers integrations with financial information products like factset.

ChrisArchitect 6y ago

right, which big tech acronym has Salesforce in it? gonna need a new one

ep103 6y ago
Just add an S, right? FAANG becomes FAANGS

advisedwang 6y ago

This doesn't reduce the number of players in the "team chat system" market, so I doubt it will be blocked given the current FTC.

amb23 6y ago

Salesforce is already a monopoly if you go by volume of revenue earned from CRM. No one other than small/niche SaaS businesses competes directly for CRM business, and any new CRM startups can't get venture funding because it's considered an untouchable space by VCs. Every other large player they compete with in the CRM space (Hubspot, Zendesk, Oracle) offers a CRM as a side product to their main line of business. This transaction shouldn't be the catalyst for regulatory action; regulators should have already taken action.

reducesuffering 6y ago
Why is it considered an untouchable space? Because CRM is so dominant? I don't understand what about the space would make it so capital intensive to compete against CRM in. They're internal tech is known to be very legacy and not cutting edge. A tech-competent startup could outmaneuver them. They're an Oracle 2.0, who at the time was also deemed unassailable, until Cloud and OSS databases ate their lunch.

paxys 6y ago

If anything this deal helps increase competition in the collaboration/productivity space, since it was clear that Slack couldn't compete with Microsoft on its own.

Nemo_bis 6y ago

Considering that Slack itself complained to the competition authorities that there is fierce competition from Microsoft and others, eating Slack's lunch, it seems hard. Salesforce can easily claim that the acquisition doesn't reduce competition, because Slack has a very small market share, or even that Slack would soon be bankrupt and needs to be saved. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-anticompetitive-practices-in-eu-complaint.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-a...