Microsoft Corp. has announced in a press release on its website that it has entered into an agreement with Yammer Inc. to purchase the enterprise social network for $1.2 billion in cash.
Yammer, launched in 2008 with more than 5 million corporate users, will join the Microsoft Office Division, and continue to report to current CEO David Sacks.
Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft said that “œThe acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love. Yammer adds a best-in-class enterprise social networking service to Microsoft‘s growing portfolio of complementary cloud services.“
The official press release reads that “Yammer will continue to develop its standalone service and maintain its commitment to simplicity, innovation and cross-platform experiences. Moving forward, Microsoft plans to accelerate Yammer‘s adoption alongside complementary offerings from Microsoft SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Skype.”
Sacks said that the acquisition that enables them to access Microsoft’s expertise and resources, will allow Yammer to accelerate their vision of how social networking can influence and change the way they work.
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