Microsoft Acquires Yammer for 1.2 Billion

On 25/06/2012, Microsoft announced an agreement to acquire Yammer, an enterprise social networking company, for $1.2 billion in cash. The acquisition aimed to integrate social collaboration features into Microsoft’s enterprise productivity tools and strengthen its position against competing platforms such as Salesforce’s Chatter. Microsoft said Yammer’s technology would enhance communication and collaboration within organizations using Microsoft services. Yammer was folded into Microsoft’s Office Division following the announcement, reporting to then-President Kurt DelBene. Yammer co-founder and CEO David Sacks remained in charge of the team after the acquisition was announced. Microsoft stated that Yammer’s capabilities would be integrated with products such as SharePoint, Office, and other enterprise collaboration tools to improve internal communication across organizations. At the time of the deal, Yammer reported more than 5 million corporate users and adoption within approximately 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Microsoft said the acquisition would accelerate enterprise social networking features across its productivity ecosystem and support collaboration across cloud-based business applications.