Microsoft Snaps Up GitHub for $7.5 Billion

Recognizing the role GitHub plays in the larger developer and DevOps ecosystems, Microsoft is acquiring the software development platform for a cool $7.5 billion, the two companies have announced.

GitHub, the world’s leading software development platform, has more than 28 million users who “learn, share and collaborate to create the future,” according to the press release announcing the acquisition.

“Developers are the builders of this new era, writing the world’s code. And GitHub is their home,” wrote Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a blog post. He noted Microsoft is the most active organization on GitHub, with more than 2 million commits made to projects.

“Microsoft has been a developer-focused company from the very first product we created to the platforms and tools we offer today. Building technology so that others can build technology is core to our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,” he wrote.

GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath was quick to point out the irony of Microsoft, once a bastion of proprietary software and apps, purchasing a repository for open source code.

“When GitHub first launched ten years ago, I could have never imagined this headline,” he wrote in his blog. “Git was a powerful but niche tool, clouds were just things in the sky, and Microsoft was a very different company. Open source and business, people said at the time, mixed as well as oil and water.”

That said, there is a certain synergy between the two companies, he noted. “We both believe that software development needs to become easier, more accessible, more intelligent, and more open, so more people can become developers and existing developers can spend more time focusing on the unique problems they’re trying to solve.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.

Keep checking DevOps.com for updates on analysis on Microsoft’s purchase of GitHub and its potential impact on the DevOps community at large.

— Charlene O’Hanlon