Tech companies that were once cautious about in-person work are calling employees back to the office. Google wants workers to come in three days a week. So does Amazon. The move poses a challenge to business software stock valuations.

Take workplace chat provider Slack and its parent company Salesforce, the cloud software group. Salesforce bought Slack in late 2020 for $27.7bn, paying a 55 per cent premium for a business that it hoped would prove integral to the future of remote work and act as an interface for its software.

The move was unpopular with investors leery of Salesforce’s appetite for acquisition and aware that Microsoft’s competing services (which include video calls) undercut Slack. Salesforce’s share price has lost about a fifth of its value since the deal was announced, though this can also be attributed to rising interest rates souring sentiment towards high-growth tech stocks. Undeterred, Salesforce has integrated Slack into its services.