Microsoft and GitHub have talked in recent weeks about a possible acquisition of the popular software development platform by the technology giant, according to a report this afternoon by Business Insider, citing anonymous sources at both companies.
GitHub was valued at $2 billion as of a 2015 funding round, but the potential price tag for the financially health company could be $5 billion or more, the report says. Business Insider notes that it’s not clear if Microsoft is interested at that price, and it’s also not known if the talks are still ongoing.
Microsoft declined to comment on the report. The company has focused heavily on cloud computing and increasingly embraced open source technologies under CEO Satya Nadella. The company aggressively recruited a series of open-source developers and developer advocates to join its ranks last year.
The company’s largest acquisition to date was its $26 billion deal for LinkedIn, the business social network. In some ways, GitHub could be called the LinkedIn for developers, with a public profile serving as a resume, of sorts, even though code written for internal use is often kept private.
Shares of Atlassian, a publicly traded GitHub competitor, declined following the report.
Atlassian stock got hit following report that Microsoft has looked at buying GitHub https://t.co/soyDChDuz7 pic.twitter.com/OafKPRZ3pc
— Jordan 'Jaws' Novet (@jordannovet) June 1, 2018
