14 DAY TRIAL // UPDATE: Microsoft has just confirmed that it's buying GitHub for $7.5 billion. You can read the full announcement in the press release box at the end of the article. Original story below.
Microsoft has reportedly purchased GitHub, and an announcement is projected to be released by the software giant later today.
News of a possible acquisition emerged late last week, but neither company confirmed the talks, though it was speculated that discussions were already in an advanced stage.
Now Bloomberg reports that Microsoft and GitHub reached an agreement, with the new focus of the Redmond-based company said to play a key role in this. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has been pushing the firm towards a cloud-driven strategy, with an increased focus on open source, and this approach is believed to align with GitHub’s long-term plans.
While no specifics are available on the terms of the deal just yet (and there’s as good chance no other details would be shared as part of the official announcement either), GitHub is said to cost around $2 billion. On the other hand, Microsoft might agree with a price of $5 billion or even more, according to the original report.
GitHub under Microsoft’s umbrella
The biggest question right now is how Microsoft would change GitHub after the takeover is complete. Microsoft has become a big supporter of the open-source world, and is at this point the top contributor to GitHub. Other companies like Google and Apple are also hosting their projects on GitHub.
At the same time, Microsoft is becoming more interested in open-source projects, and after releasing open-source versions of PowerShell and Visual Studio Code, the firm also signed partnerships with companies that have long been considered fierce enemies, like Canonical.
Ubuntu is now available for download from the Microsoft Store, alongside several other Linux distributions that can be installed on top of Windows 10 with the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Further details on how Microsoft sees the future of GitHub under its own umbrella will be offered later today when the announcement will be released.