Microsoft to acquire GitHub for US$7.5billion

Microsoft has announced that it will be acquiring GitHub for US$7.5billion in an all-stock transaction, representing the tech giant’s largest purchase since professional networking site LinkedIn in 2016 for US$26.2billion.

Microsoft’s projects such as web-browser Mozilla and Linux are dependant on open source coding, so the acquisition will help developers work with others on collaborative projects which implement open source coding.

‘Destination for developers’

“Developers will be at the centre of solving the world’s most pressing challenges. However, the real power comes when every developer can create together, collaborate, share code and build on each other’s work. In all walks of life, we see the power of communities, and this is true for software development and developers,” wrote Microsoft in its blog post.

“That is why we are so excited about today’s announcement. 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.”

‘RIP GitHub’

Nevertheless, Tweets from developers saying “RIP GitHub” and “GitHub is dead” shows that they are worried about what Microsoft is going to do to the web-based hosting service.

To date, the coding database has raised US$350million and was valued at US$2billion in 2015.

Brian Fox, CTO at Sonatype, commented: “Microsoft’s acquisition of GitHub shows that the developer is king, collaboration is critical to innovation, and open source has truly taken centre stage.

What’s driving today’s application economy?

“While Microsoft initially viewed open source programmes with scepticism, fearing competition with its proprietary model, it has quickly realised that open source, and its developers, are what’s driving today’s application economy. Developers build the infrastructure that underpins our lives and businesses; collaboration between them is crucial to unlock open source’s full potential.

“Any and every initiative that helps to build better software should always be supported. With Microsoft’s resources behind a great company like GitHub, the future of secure, quality open source looks brighter than ever.”

Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Nat Friedman, will also become GitHub’s CEO, and GitHub’s Former CEO, Chris Wanstrath, will be working on Microsoft’s strategic work initiatives.

Written by Leah Alger

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