It's official: Salesforce has unveiled plans to acquire Slack in a $27.7 billion deal.
The company on Tuesday announced the Slack acquisition, the biggest deal since Salesforce's founding, The New York Times reported. The news came after The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal for the software company was in advanced discussions.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff described the purchase of Slack as "a match made in heaven," while Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield called this the "most strategic combination in the history of software."
Salesforce's acquisition of Slack will still need to receive approval from regulators and Slack shareholders, the Journal notes. But should it go through, the Journal writes that it would "turn the combined company into one of the biggest players in the competitive business-software market." Slack has said there has been a "significant increase in demand and usage" due to increased working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the three months that ended in October, its revenue rose 39 percent, the Times reports.
But analysts note this deal comes as Slack "faces heavy competition from Microsoft's Teams product," The Washington Post reports.
"When you're a scrappy start-up going against an 800-pound gorilla that's one of the most well-capitalized companies in existence, it's tough to compete," analyst Logan Purk told the Times. "This is more or less saying, 'We can't compete with Microsoft Teams anymore. We need more firepower.'" Brendan Morrow
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will advise health care workers and long-term care facility residents receive COVID-19 vaccinations first, if and when Food and Drug Administration approval is granted.
The decision was reached by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is advising the CDC on vaccine distribution practices. As vaccine approval for emergency use becomes increasingly likely in the coming weeks, the panel voted 13-1 in favor of a motion elevating two groups to the front of the line. Health care workers are frequently exposed to the virus and are essential to keeping hospitals running throughout the pandemic, while nursing homes have faced some of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks across the country.
The lone vote against the priority recommendation came from Dr. Helen Kiepp Talbot, who clarified that she has no reservations about health care workers receiving the vaccines, but is concerned there is not enough data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine candidates nearing approval in older adults, who are more likely to live in long-term care facilities. Tim O'Donnell
#ACIP Talbot [the only "No" vote]: I struggled with this. It was not an easy vote.
Need to find ways to test #vaccines to prolong life of LTCF residents.
But says she has "no reservations" about providing #COVID19 vaccines to health care workers. #CDC— Donna Young (@DonnaYoungDC) December 1, 2020
Attorney General William Barr announced Tuesday he has appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was previously tasked with investigating the 2016 Russia probe's origins, as special counsel.
Barr told The Associated Press that he appointed Durham as special counsel in October, explaining that ahead of the 2020 presidential election, "I decided the best thing to do would be to appoint them under the same regulation that covered Bob Mueller, to provide Durham and his team some assurance that they'd be able to complete their work regardless of the outcome of the election."
An order obtained by AP states that Durham is authorized to "investigate whether any federal official, employee or any person or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counter-intelligence or law enforcement activities" while probing allegations of cooperation between Trump's campaign and Russia. Documents show that Barr "made the appointment on October 19 and kept it secret so as not to interfere in the election," CNN writes.
Durham will now have additional protection, as a special counsel can only be fired by the attorney general for certain reasons, AP notes. Barr's announcement of his October appointment came on the same afternoon that he told AP the Justice Department has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the results of the 2020 election. Brendan Morrow
Attorney General William Barr is the latest ally of President Trump to refute his allegations of widespread voter fraud, The Associated Press reports.
In an interview with AP, Barr said the Justice Department, to date, has "not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the" presidential election last month, which resulted in President-elect Joe Biden defeating Trump.
Trump and his legal team have continued to pursue unfounded claims that the Democratic Party illegally tampered with the voting process to seal Biden's win over the last few weeks. Initially, some of the president's supporters either backed his efforts to look more deeply into the situation — Barr issued a directive to U.S. attorney generals allowing them to investigate any "substantial" allegations of voter fraud, for example — but many have hopped off the bandwagon recently with the campaign unable to produce any evidence to support their claims, and courts continually striking down Trump's lawsuits across the country.
Barr didn't necessarily suggest his department was done following up on the matter, but AP notes that as one of Trump's most ardent loyalists, his comments are particularly meaningful. Read more at The Associated Press. Tim O'Donnell