US: Microsoft snaps up GitHub for US$7.5b

Microsoft has reached an agreement to buy GitHub, the source repository and collaboration platform, in a deal worth US$7.5 billion. The all-stock deal is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval in the US and EU.

Decade-old GitHub is built on Git, the open source version control software originally written by Linux creator Linus Torvalds. Git is a distributed version control system: each developer has their own repository that they make changes to, and these changes can be propagated between repositories to share those changes.

“Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a release announcing the deal. “We recognize the community responsibility we take on with this agreement and will do our best work to empower every developer to build, innovate and solve the world’s most pressing challenges.”

Microsoft says the transaction, which must pass the usual regulatory scrutiny, will close by the end of 2018.

Full Content: USA Today

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