San Francisco, Dec 6 (IANS): CEO and co-founder of enterprise messaging platform Slack, Stewart Butterfield announced that he is leaving Salesforce in January 2023.

Cloud computing giant Salesforce acquired Slack for $27.7 billion in July last year, reports The Verge.

Butterfield's departure was announced in a Slack channel, only a few days after Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor also revealed that he was leaving the company.

"This has nothing to do with Bret's departure," Butterfield wrote in a Slack channel.

"Planning has been in the works for several months! Just weird timing," he added.

Lidiane Jones, who is presently executive vice president and general manager of digital experiences clouds, will become the new CEO of Slack.

Since the acquisition, Slack has not changed much in the past year, but with Butterfield's departure, the platform will likely enter a new phase and maybe become even more integrated with Salesforce products.

"Stewart is an incredible leader who created an amazing, beloved company in Slack," Cheyenne King, Salesforce spokesperson, told The Verge.

"He has helped lead the successful integration of Slack into Salesforce and today Slack is woven into the Salesforce Customer 360 platform," King added.