Software giant Microsoft just announced that it was working to acquire the online coding platform GitHub for $7.5 billion. The deal is expected to be concluded later in the year and the payments are going to be in stocks. Once the acquisition pulls through, it will augment Microsoft’s development capabilities, especially with regards to its artificial intelligence pursuits.
As a popular community and repository for programmers, GitHub is used by individual coders and entire companies alike, The Verge reports. The platform was valued at $2 billion back in 2015. Clearly, this figure has gone up since then. Either that or Microsoft just really wants to get its hands on GitHub.
In any case, one of the biggest benefits of the acquisition to Microsoft will naturally be the development resources that it will then have at its disposal. GitHub is where developers and brands host many of their projects and unique codes. Even tech giants like Apple and Google use the platform to host their own works.
Currently, there are about 28 million developers contributing to the growing repository of codes on the site, which has since reached about 85 million. One of the top contributors to GitHub is, in fact, Microsoft itself.
With this acquisition, the platform is also finally getting a new CEO since its previous one, Chris Wanstrath, has been looking to retire for some time now. Going forward, the site will be led by Xamarin founder Nat Friedman, Microsoft said in its announcement. Friedman will be directly under Scott Guthrie, who is the Cloud and AI chief over at Microsoft.
As for what the software giant plans to do for the immediate future of GitHub, it seems it is content to keep the format the same right now. Microsoft also notes that it wants to empower the developer community by maintaining the open-source format.


Tencent Reviews Marvelous Stake as Gaming Giant Reassesses Global Investment Strategy
Trump Says Anthropic No Longer Seen as National Security Threat
Cerebras Revenue Forecast Tops Expectations, but Margin Concerns Weigh on Stock
Alphabet Stock Slides as AI Talent Exodus and SpaceX Losses Shake Investor Confidence
Oracle Cuts 21,000 Jobs as AI Reshapes Workforce and Cloud Expansion Accelerates
US Raises Concerns Over Possible ASML EUV Machine Transfer to China
Qualcomm Nears $4 Billion Acquisition of AI Chip Startup Modular
Meta Pauses Employee Activity Tracking Program Over Data Security Concerns
SK Hynix Moves Closer to New York ADR Listing Amid AI Chip Boom
Google’s Open-Source AI Data Center Cooling Design Raises Commoditization Concerns
How AI prompting turned writerly description into an everyday skill
Anthropic AI Model Uncovers Vulnerabilities in Classified U.S. Government Systems During Security Test
SK Hynix Overtakes Samsung as South Korea’s Most Valuable Company
Today’s space race could turn fatal if we don’t agree on new rules
WiseTech Global Denies Knowledge of Investigation Into Founder Richard White 



