The deal could shake up how blockchain and Ethereum developers choose to collaborate. Andreessen Horowitz wins big.
On June 4, 2018, Microsoft announced its plan to purchase software development platform GitHub[1] for $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval in the US and European Union, is expected to close by the end of 2018. This marks Microsoft's largest acquisition since it bought LinkedIn[2] for $26.2 billion in 2016.
Today, Microsoft explained[3] its vision for the GitHub acquisition:
"Together, the two companies will empower developers to achieve more at every stage of the development lifecycle, accelerate enterprise use of GitHub, and bring Microsoft's developer tools and services to new audiences."
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella remarked, "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." It's worth noting that GitHub boasts a community of 28 million developers and 85 million code repositories, and Microsoft claims to be the "most active organization" on the platform.
Personnel Changes
Once the acquisition is complete, Nat Friedman[4] (now corporate vice president at Microsoft and founder of Xamarin[5]) will become CEO of GitHub. Meanwhile, Chris Wanstrath – who stepped down as GitHub's CEO[6] in August 2017 – will become a technical fellow at Microsoft. Both will report to Microsoft's Cloud + AI Group executive vice president Scott Guthrie[7].
Even though Microsoft is bringing GitHub into the fold, it appears that there will be some degree of separation. If true, this would be a welcome relief, especially given the demise of CodePlex[8] (another service
