Atlassian Corp. is selling its corporate chat software to rival Slack Technologies Inc. and taking a small stake in the startup, as they face greater competition from Microsoft Corp.
Slack will pay an undisclosed amount over the next three years to acquire Atlassian’s HipChat and Stride assets, chief executives from both companies said. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield described both the payment and the investment by Atlassian in his company as “nominal” in financial terms but important strategically. He declined to elaborate on the former.
