SOFTWARE

Introducing Slackforce

Software-as-a-service pioneer Salesforce announced in an earnings call yesterday that it will buy workplace management app Slack for $27.7 billion in cash and stock. So like your friend's new SO you haven't been able to evaluate in person yet, let's pass judgment on this pairing from afar. 

For Salesforce: Slack will join analytics company Tableau and cloud provider Vlocity in Salesforce's growing stable of business services offerings. Salesforce has been buying up enterprise-oriented companies in a bid to fulfill every workplace need outside of book club—and Slack is Salesforce's biggest purchase to date. 

• Salesforce bulls say it's bulking up in all the right ways, though some analysts argue it may be straying too far from its core business: software for managing sales. 

For Slack: Camping out under Salesforce's tent means more resources, plus new relationships with c-suites around the world thanks to the behemoth's existing customer base. 

• With tens of millions forced to work from home, Slack's first half of 2020 was a financial party parrot. But in September it missed earnings expectations and shares tanked 19%. 
• The company went public via direct listing in June 2019 and shares haven't budged much since. It also hasn't turned a profit. 

No need to worry about your favorite gossip channel disappearing; the WaPo writes that Slack's impressive brand loyalty will likely keep Salesforce from meddling too much in the app you know and love/dread. 

Zoom out: Salesforce and Slack have a common, four-paned enemy: Microsoft. Microsoft's workplace management play, Teams, is an increasingly painful thorn in Slack's side, while Salesforce lost an arm-wrestling match for LinkedIn with Microsoft in 2016. 

Bottom line: Software acquisitions have been as few and far between in 2020 as hugs or concerts. The shift to remote catapulted the industry, inflating valuations and putting potential buyouts out of reach. But added competition, from Google and Zoom as well as Microsoft, brought Slack back down to what Salesforce considered a reasonable price.

HEALTHCARE

Priority Boarding: Vaccine Edition

Covid-19 has changed a lot, particularly our enthusiasm for Tuesday afternoon CDC webcasts. Yesterday, 14 members of the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted on one very important question: Who should get vaccinated first?

What they decided: Phase 1 of Phase 1 is *drumroll please* healthcare personnel and long-term care facility (LTCF) residents. Healthcare heroes are a no-brainer, but the other group? Not a simple decision. 

• LTCF staff and residents, despite making up just 6% of Covid cases, account for 39% of U.S. deaths. But vaccine clinical trials typically include younger, healthier volunteers, so efficacy among groups like nursing home residents is less clear.

The next round of Phase 1 will include essential workers, people with underlying health conditions, and adults 65+. 

The vaccine scene: Pfizer and Moderna have requested emergency use authorization for their Covid-19 vaccines. If the FDA approves both of them, 40 million doses could be available by year-end.  

Looking ahead...if CDC Director Robert Redfield approves ACIP's decision, this guidance will be sent to the states. Friday's the deadline for states to decide where to ship their first vaccine orders. 

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

The Nasdaq Waits for No Man

Yesterday, Nasdaq asked the Securities and Exchange Commission if it can require all 3,300+ companies that trade on its exchange to...

1. Publicly disclose diversity statistics about their boards of directors.
2. Have at least two diverse directors (one woman, one who identifies as an underrepresented minority and/or LGBTQ).

If the SEC says yes...boards have two years to bring on at least one diverse director and 2–3 more to hire the second. If they miss the deadline and fail to provide a sufficient explanation of why they missed it, they could get delisted.  

• Over three-quarters of Nasdaq-listed companies can't meet that benchmark today. 

Big picture: Corporate America has made slow progress improving diversity at the top. In 2018, women held just 22% of Fortune 500 board seats. From 2010–2018, seats held by Black directors increased just one percentage point to 9%.

The Nasdaq would be the first major exchange to impose such requirements, but it's not alone in pushing for board diversity. California requires at least one diverse director for companies headquartered in the state, and Goldman Sachs does as well to underwrite an IPO.

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STARTUP

Trendspotting

Want to spot the hottest industries? Easy—follow the money. Here are a few recent deals from fast-growing sectors. 

Micromobility: Voi, a Swedish scooter rental startup, raised $160 million to help it expand in Europe. While U.S. e-scooter hotshots Lime and Bird have struggled this year, Voi is hoping a slower and friendlier approach with city officials will lead to sustainable growth.

AI: Many companies say they "use artificial intelligence" to solve problems. Scale AI, which yesterday raised $155 million at a monster valuation of $3.5 billion, gives companies the behind-the-scenes tools to help them actually put AI to work. 

Freight tech: Flock Freight, a startup that streamlines truck shipments using algorithms, closed a $113.5 million round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2. It's one of many well-funded companies looking to disrupt the—how do we put this kindly—mature freight sector. 

Customer engagement: SoftBank (yep, them again) took a 10.1% stake in Sinch, a cloud-based provider of customer engagement services out of Sweden (yep, them again). With more consumers interacting with brands over the internet, Sinch is the top-performing stock on the Stoxx Europe 600 index this year. 

FOOD

You Can Eat This Today If You’d Like

The famous McRib returns to McDonald's menus today. Half of you are thinking, "Couldn't care less, that's disgusting," while the other 50% have had this date circled on their calendars for the past few months.  

One thing we will say about this polarizing delicacy: This year's rollout is different. While the McRib (a sort of barbecue boneless pork sandwich, if we had to describe it) has temporarily popped up on McDonald's menus for years, it hasn't been introduced nationwide since 2012. Today, it's coming to all 14,400 McDonald's locations in the U.S. 

Bottom line: Everyone says Snapchat pioneered disappearing content but, long before Stories was invented, McDonald's understood how ephemeral products can drive feverish demand. 

+ Did you know: Germany is the only country that's served the McRib all year round. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Cyber Monday sales hit $10.8 billion, per Adobe Analytics. That makes it the top e-commerce shopping day in U.S. history. 
• Reddit disclosed it had 52 million daily average users in October, up 44% from last year. 
• Airbnb's aiming for a valuation of up to $35 billion in its upcoming IPO.
• Kohl's stock popped 13% after it announced a partnership to open hundreds of Sephora beauty shops inside its stores.
• Libra Association, the Facebook-backed cryptocurrency consortium, is rebranding as "Diem" ahead of its launch.
• BlackBerry shares gained nearly 20% after announcing a deal with Amazon Web Services. The company's ditched smartphones for security software...and it's paying off. 

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Productivity tip: Try using the Eisenhower Matrix to sort out your to-do list. 

Live from quarantine: It's Walter Cronkite showing off a then-futuristic home office. 

How is it pronounced, again? Here are the 25 most-viewed GIFs on Giphy this year. 

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GAMES

Music Trivia

Spotify just released its year-end “Wrapped” list with the most popular artists, albums, and podcasts of 2020 (make sure to check your personal Wrapped, too). Can you guess the leaders of the following categories? 

1. Most streamed artist 
2. Most streamed female artist 
3. Most streamed song
4. Most popular podcast

ANSWER

1. Most streamed artist = Bad Bunny
2. Most streamed female artist = Billie Eilish 
3. Most streamed song = The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”
4. Most popular podcast = The Joe Rogan Experience