What Microsoft’s GitHub Acquisition Could Mean

Recently, Microsoft (MSFT) decided to acquire open-source software development company GitHub for $7.5 billion. Its open-source platform is used by more than 28 million developers around the globe.

The acquisition also prompted Microsoft to make a big leap towards open-source applications, which at the time of former CEO Steve Ballmer, was impossible to imagine. Ballmar was against open-source platforms and considered them the greatest threat to Microsoft Windows software. However, according to current CEO Satya Nadella, “Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation.”

In today’s world, open-source platforms are extremely important for any organization as they can allow others to improve inbuilt software. Many big players, such as Facebook’s (FB) Apache Cassandra and Google’s (GOOGL) Android, stemmed from sharing platforms with other developers.

The GitHub deal is set to be the company’s third-largest acquisition after LinkedIn and Skype, for which it paid $26.2 billion and $8.5 billion, respectively. The company aims to complete the transaction by the end of this year. The chart above shows Microsoft’s five largest acquisitions. GitHub may boost Microsoft’s cloud technology, particularly its platform-as-a-service cloud layer, as well as its Windows platform.