Salesforce.com Inc. agreed to buy Slack Technologies Inc. for $27.7 billion in cash and stock, giving the corporate software giant a popular workplace-communications platform in one of the biggest technology deals of the year.

Jobs will be harder to find for graduates, and there are new underwriting platforms that can better predict students' future income in their chosen field.

CEO James Schenck says the institution's military focus means it must provide services for a group of consumers who move every few years. That has helped it focus more on mobile services and less on brick and mortar.

The California company agreed to acquire WestRiver Group in a move that will expand its debt fund business.

Digital workforce collaboration apps like Slack are hot acquisition targets, particularly for a company like Salesforce, which needs to compete with enterprise technology companies while making it easy for its clients to execute an "invisible payment" that's embedded in cross-selling and marketing.

The deal will expand the credit union's brick-and-mortar footprint to more than 30 locations across Illinois and California.

Suning.com Co., one of the largest retailers in China, is considering selling a stake in its e-commerce business as it aims to ease financing pressures, according to people familiar with the matter.

S&P Global has agreed to buy IHS Markit for about $39 billion in stock, a deal that accelerates the wave of consolidation among the finance industry's biggest data providers.

Just months after revealing it was testing lending directly to consumers through its Cash App, Square says it is buying the tax business of Credit Karma to bring tax preparation to Cash App customers.

Coast 2 Coast Financial Credit Union has agreed to join the Florida-based Achieva, which previously acquired two community banks.