In a move that was first rumoured last week, Microsoft has announced that it has acquired GitHub for a whopping $7.5 billion. The popular code repository is used by more than 28 million developers to store, update, and collaborate code for their projects. Microsoft itself is one of those companies who use GitHub for some of their projects.
“That is why we are so excited about today’s announcement,” wrote Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft in a blog post. “More than 28 million developers already collaborate on GitHub, and it is home to more than 85 million code repositories used by people in nearly every country. From the largest corporations to the smallest startups, GitHub is the destination for developers to learn, share and work together to create software. It’s a destination for Microsoft too. We are the most active organization on GitHub, with more than 2 million ‘commits,’ or updates, made to projects.”
According to the news release, GitHub will still operate independently and remain an open platform for all developers, allowing them to use “the programming languages, tools and operating systems of their choice for their projects — and will still be able to deploy their code to any operating system, any cloud and any device.” With the acquisition, Microsoft has three “clear opportunities ahead,” according to Nadella.
First, we will empower developers at every stage of the development lifecycle – from ideation to collaboration to deployment to the cloud. Going forward, GitHub will remain an open platform, which any developer can plug into and extend. Developers will continue to be able to use the programming languages, tools and operating systems of their choice for their projects – and will still be able to deploy their code on any cloud and any device.
Second, we will accelerate enterprise developers’ use of GitHub, with our direct sales and partner channels and access to Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure and services.
Finally, we will bring Microsoft’s developer tools and services to new audiences.
The acquisition isn’t a done deal as the purchase needs to go through the necessary regulatory reviews but is expected to close by the end of the year. The $7.5 billion paid out will come in the form of Microsoft stock. Microsoft’s Corporate VP Nat Friedman will become the new GitHub CEO while Chris Wanstrath, the company’s current CEO, will become a Microsoft technical fellow.
“I’m extremely proud of what GitHub and our community have accomplished over the past decade, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead. The future of software development is bright, and I’m thrilled to be joining forces with Microsoft to help make it a reality,” Wanstrath said. “Their focus on developers lines up perfectly with our own, and their scale, tools and global cloud will play a huge role in making GitHub even more valuable for developers everywhere.”
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