Breaking: Microsoft confirms intent to purchase GitHub for $7.5 billion in stock

Chris Wanstrath (left), Github CEO and co-founder; Nat Friedman, Microsoft corporate vice president, Developer Services; Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO; and Amy Hood, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer.

GitHub will retain its developer-first ethos. Operate independently and remain an open platform. -Microsoft

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Further to the earlier report that Microsoft is purchasing code repository and developer community hangout GitHub, we now have confirmation from Redmond that Microsoft intends to purchases GitHub for $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock.

Microsoft says that 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."

"The era of the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge is upon us. Computing is becoming embedded in the world, with every part of our daily life and work and every aspect of our society and economy being transformed by digital technology.Developers are the builders of this new era, writing the world’s code. And GitHub is their home," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated in a blog post. 

For some skeptics who feel Microsoft's involvement will lessen the value of GitHub or compromise its independence, the company has stressed that, "GitHub will retain its developer-first ethos. Operate independently and remain an open platform."

Nadella adds, "Given all of this, together with GitHub, we see three clear opportunities ahead.

First, we will empower developers at every stage of the development lifecycle – from ideation to collaboration to deployment to the cloud. Going forward, GitHub will remain an open platform, which any developer can plug into and extend. Developers will continue to be able to use the programming languages, tools and operating systems of their choice for their projects – and will still be able to deploy their code on any cloud and any device.

Second, we will accelerate enterprise developers’ use of GitHub, with our direct sales and partner channels and access to Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure and services.

Finally, we will bring Microsoft’s developer tools and services to new audiences." Looking at the graphic from a slide shared during the announcement, it is clear that developers are the lifeblood of the new Azure IoT and, bu extension, Microsoft's future.

As a result of this acquisition, Nat Friedman, former CEO of Xamarin (acquired by Microsoft in 2016), will take over as CEO of GitHub. Chris Wanstrath, co-founder of GitHub, will join Microsoft as a technical fellow. GitHub will retain its developer-first ethos and will operate independently to provide an open platform for all developers in all industries.

"I’m extremely proud of what GitHub and our community have accomplished over the past decade, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead. The future of software development is bright and I’m thrilled to be joining forces with Microsoft to help make it a reality," said Chris Wanstrath, co-founder of GitHub and newly-minted Microsoft Fellow.