Salesforce.com deal to buy Slack is expected to be announced on Tuesday

The latest high-level tech deal could be officially announced in less than 24 hours. CNBC reported the hottest buyout rumor of the moment on Monday – that salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) acquires Soft (NYSE: WORK)– will probably be confirmed after the market close on Tuesday.

Citing an indefinite number of sources, CNBC added that the price of the transaction would result in a premium – perhaps even considerable – over Slack’s recent share price. It also appears to be accomplished in a mix of cash and sales force inventory, roughly at equal levels.

Buying Slack won’t be cheap. The company’s market capitalization was nearly $ 24.5 billion on its last closing price; even a modest premium could add millions of dollars in acquisition costs.

That said, Salesforce is still a profitable business with a fairly high cash flow; its free cash flow (FCF) exceeded $ 4.4 billion in fiscal 2020, up nearly 58% from the previous period.

It also had nearly $ 9.3 billion in cash and short-term investments on its books at the end of its last quarter. That, added to its market capitalization of over $ 223 billion, gives it considerable financial strength whether or not it decides to use outside sources of funding for the transaction.

Another factor for investors in Salesforce or Slack to consider is that the former company is a serial acquirer and a veteran of several major acquisitions. Among other things, he paid nearly $ 16 billion to acquire data visualization specialist Tableau Software in 2019; these transactions have contributed to the significant growth of its revenues in recent times.

Yet multi-billion dollar acquisitions still make investors think twice. Salesforce’s stock plunged 0.7% on Monday, while Slack’s rose 5.4%.