‘Microsoft did horrible things to Slack’: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff warns OpenAI could suffer next

Speaking to SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin in a recent video podcast, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has slammed Microsoft, accusing them of using unfair tactics to crush competition, first with Slack, and possibly now with OpenAI.

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Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff opens up

“Microsoft did horrible things to Slack before we bought it,” he said.

According to Benioff, Microsoft followed a “dark playbook” that seriously hurt Slack’s chances in the market. The Salesforce CEO also expressed concerns that the same thing could repeat with OpenAI.

When Slack was gaining popularity as a workplace messaging app, the tech giant Microsoft launched its rival, Teams, and bundled it for free with its Microsoft 365 suite.

Slack filed a complaint with the European Union, arguing that the bundling gave Microsoft an unfair advantage. In 2024, when Microsoft agreed to unbundle Teams, the damage was already done.

Benioff claimed that Microsoft’s tactics weren’t just aggressive, they were also deeply unfair.

“They were running their playbook and did a lot of dark stuff,” he remarked.

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Another tech war?

Benioff compared it to the tech wars of the 1990s, when Microsoft was accused of crushing competitors like Netscape during the browser wars.

Microsoft has invested billions into OpenAI and uses its technology for products like Copilot.

However, according to Benioff, the partnership could quickly turn into a rivalry.

“In the case of OpenAI, a partnership is gonna become a competition,” he predicted, hinting that Microsoft’s history of absorbing or outmanoeuvring startups might repeat itself.

Recent reports suggest Microsoft may be exploring alternative AI models to power its services to reduce its reliance on OpenAI.

“Microsoft is a company that wants to own it all, control it all,” Benioff said. “That playbook should get ripped up and thrown away.”

Incidentally, Open AI CEO Sam Altman lauded India’s AI adoption, saying India is outpacing the world. CRED founder Kunal Shah responded with a simple but biting observation: "India is the MAU farm of the world." 

For the unawares, MAU stands for Monthly Active Users, a metric used by tech companies. A high MAU count means more engagement and more data, leading to more monetisation opportunities.

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