Microsoft acquiring GitHub for $7.5bn
Microsoft is acquiring software development platform GitHub for $7.5bn, the company confirmed on Monday.
Github is a 10-year-old coding website that's popular among developers who use the platform to share code and collaborate. It's used by 28 million developers and hosts 85 million code repositories worldwide. Companies including Airbnb, PayPal and Spotify have used the platform.
According to Microsoft, it is the most active organization on GitHub, with more than two million “commits,” or updates, made to projects.
In a blog post, Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella said that Github will “remain an open platform, which any developer can plug into and extend. He also said that the site will "retain its developer-first ethos” and operate independently."
Microsoft corporate vice president Nat Friedman has assumed the role of GitHub chief executive. Chris Wanstrath, co-founder of Github, will become a Microsoft technical fellow. Wanstrath announced his plans to step down as chief executive of Github last year.
In 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2bn, the company’s largest acquisition to date.