This time last year, Slack Technologies, the popular workplace chat provider, was one of the most eagerly anticipated public tech debuts of 2019. That seems like a long time ago. Since Slack went public in June, its stock has dropped about 40%.
The reason for the slump: Revenue growth at Slack is slowing and competition is intensifying, especially from Microsoft. The tech giant is relying on a familiar tactic—bundling a Slack killer with a widely used existing product, its Office 365 suite of apps. Given that competitive pressure, I predict 2020 will be the year that—after years of acquisition speculation—a larger tech company will finally buy Slack.
