Microsoft acquisition history

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Candy Crush, for $95.00 per share in cash, about $68.7 billion — the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history. The deal, which closed after nearly two years of global regulatory review (including remedies for cloud-gaming rights), made Microsoft the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue and brought Activision, Blizzard and King studios into Microsoft Gaming under Phil Spencer.

Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.Satya Nadella — Chairman and CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft acquired professional-networking company LinkedIn — then with more than 433 million members — for $196.00 per share in cash, about $26.2 billion. LinkedIn retained its distinct brand, culture and independence, with CEO Jeff Weiner reporting to Satya Nadella. Microsoft framed the deal as connecting the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network to reinvent selling, marketing, learning and productivity across Office 365 and Dynamics.

The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals. Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics.Satya Nadella — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to buy Nuance, a maker of conversational-AI and cloud-based ambient clinical documentation tools for healthcare providers (products include Dragon Ambient eXperience, Dragon Medical One and PowerScribe One), for $56.00 per share in cash, about $19.7 billion including net debt. The deal built on a partnership the two firms began in 2019 and folded Nuance into Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud segment, with CEO Mark Benjamin staying on. Microsoft said the purchase would roughly double its addressable market in the healthcare-provider space to nearly $500 billion.

Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI. AI is technology's most important priority, and healthcare is its most urgent application.Satya Nadella — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to acquire GitHub, the software-development and code-collaboration platform then used by more than 28 million developers, in an all-stock deal worth $7.5 billion. GitHub kept operating independently with a developer-first approach, with Microsoft's Nat Friedman becoming GitHub CEO. Microsoft reported GitHub within its Intelligent Cloud segment after closing.

Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation.Satya Nadella — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft announced plans to buy ZeniMax Media, the privately held parent of publisher Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion in cash. ZeniMax brought franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein and Dishonored plus more than 2,300 employees across eight studios. The deal grew Microsoft's first-party lineup from 15 to 23 creative studio teams, with Bethesda's games coming to Xbox Game Pass.

Quality differentiated content is the engine behind the growth and value of Xbox Game Pass.Satya Nadella — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to acquire Skype, the internet voice and video communications service, for $8.5 billion in cash from an investor group led by Silver Lake. Skype then had about 170 million connected users and had carried over 207 billion minutes of voice and video calls in 2010. Skype became a new Microsoft business division, with CEO Tony Bates reporting to Steve Ballmer.

Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.Steve Ballmer — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to purchase substantially all of Nokia's Devices & Services business — the Mobile Phones and Smart Devices units, the Lumia and Asha brands, design teams and production facilities — plus a license to Nokia's patents and HERE mapping services, for EUR 5.44 billion in cash. About 32,000 Nokia employees were expected to transfer to Microsoft.

It's a bold step into the future — a win-win for employees, shareholders and consumers of both companies.Steve Ballmer — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to acquire aQuantive, a digital-marketing company and parent of the Atlas ad-tech platform, DRIVEpm and interactive agency Avenue A | Razorfish, for $66.50 per share in cash, about $6 billion. aQuantive had roughly 2,600 employees and kept operating from Seattle within Microsoft's Online Services Business. approximately $6 billion.

The advertising industry is evolving and growing at an incredible pace, moving increasingly toward online and IP-served platforms.Steve Ballmer — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to acquire Mojang, the Stockholm studio behind Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. Minecraft had surpassed 100 million PC downloads since its 2009 launch and was among the top-selling games across PC, Xbox, iOS and Android. The Mojang team joined Microsoft Studios, and Microsoft committed to keep Minecraft available across PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.

Minecraft is more than a great game franchise — it is an open world platform, driven by a vibrant community we care deeply about.Satya Nadella — CEO, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to acquire Yammer, an enterprise social-networking provider, for $1.2 billion in cash. Launched in 2008, Yammer had more than 5 million corporate users spanning 85 percent of the Fortune 500. Yammer joined the Microsoft Office Division while continuing to develop its standalone service.

The acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love.Steve Ballmer — CEO, Microsoft

Visio was a maker of business and technical diagramming and visualization software. Microsoft folded it into its Business Productivity Group as the Visio Division, keeping the Seattle offices, with Visio shareholders receiving 0.45 Microsoft shares per Visio share.

We are thrilled to officially welcome Visio, a pioneer in delivering unique diagramming solutions to business and enterprise customers, to the Microsoft family of business products.Bob Muglia — Group Vice President, Microsoft

Great Plains Software was a leading supplier of mid-market business management applications. Structured as a stock purchase exchanging 1.1 Microsoft shares per Great Plains share, it brought Great Plains in as a division of Microsoft's Productivity and Business Services Group and expanded Microsoft's reach into integrated business software for small and mid-sized companies.

Microsoft and Great Plains see the future of business applications for small and medium-sized companies in the same way.Steve Ballmer — President and CEO, Microsoft

Navision was a global provider of integrated business software solutions. The stock-and-cash purchase offered shareholders 300 DKK per share, about $1.3 billion at announcement. Combining Navision with Microsoft Great Plains strengthened Microsoft's geographic and product coverage for small and midmarket business software.

The combined vision, business strategy and product offerings of Microsoft and Navision will provide great benefits to small and midmarket customers.Steve Ballmer — CEO, Microsoft

FAST was a leading provider of enterprise search technology. Microsoft launched an all-cash tender offer at 19.00 NOK per share, a 42% premium, valuing FAST at about 6.6 billion NOK (~$1.2 billion). FAST's high-end search expertise complemented Microsoft's SharePoint products.

The combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs.Jeff Raikes — President, Microsoft Business Division

Founded in 1999, Tellme was a leading provider of voice services including nationwide directory assistance, enterprise customer service and voice-enabled mobile search, answering millions of calls daily. Microsoft folded Tellme's voice expertise into offerings from unified communications to mobile search. Deal terms were not disclosed.

Speech is universal, simple and holds incredible promise as a key interface for computing.Steve Ballmer — CEO, Microsoft

Founded in 2006 by multi-touch pioneer Jeff Han, Perceptive Pixel developed large-scale multi-touch display hardware and software. Microsoft acquired it into its Office Division, planning to pair its large touch displays with OEM hardware to create Windows 8-based collaboration PCs. Terms were not disclosed.

PPI's large touch displays, when combined with hardware from our OEMs, will become powerful Windows 8-based PCs.Kurt DelBene — President, Office Division, Microsoft

Danger was a software-as-a-service company whose platform powered popular consumer handsets, delivering mobile messaging, social networking, web browsing and email on a single customizable phone. Microsoft added Danger to its Entertainment and Devices Division to accelerate its move into the mobile consumer space. Price was not disclosed.

The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services.Robbie Bach — President, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft

Massive operated a leading network for dynamic in-game video game advertising, inserting brands into games on objects like billboards, cans and posters. Microsoft acquired it to deliver targeted, measurable ads across its online services starting with Xbox Live and MSN Games. Terms were not disclosed.

Massive and Microsoft can help lead with our shared vision of delivering more targeted, measurable and effective opportunities for advertisers.Joanne Bradford — Corporate Vice President, Microsoft

Microsoft agreed to acquire Xamarin, a cross-platform mobile app development company whose tooling lets developers write native iOS, Android and Windows apps in C# using .NET. At announcement Xamarin had more than 15,000 customers and over 1.3 million developers, and the two firms had already integrated Xamarin into Visual Studio, Azure and Office 365. Terms were not disclosed.

I am pleased to announce today that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Xamarin, a leading platform provider for mobile app development.Scott Guthrie — Executive Vice President, Cloud + Enterprise, Microsoft

Microsoft acquired SwiftKey, maker of a predictive software keyboard and SDK that then powered more than 300 million Android and iOS devices across roughly 100 languages. Microsoft kept developing SwiftKey's keyboard apps while folding the predictive technology into its broader portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

We believe that together we can achieve orders of magnitude greater scale than either of us could have achieved independently.Harry Shum — Executive Vice President, Microsoft AI and Research Group

Microsoft acquired Xandr, AT&T's data-enabled digital advertising marketplace and technology platform connecting marketers and media owners through first-party, data-led advertising including video and connected TV. Microsoft framed it as accelerating its digital advertising and retail media ambitions; Xandr was folded into Microsoft Advertising. Terms were not disclosed.

Microsoft acquired Affirmed Networks, a provider of fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network software that helps carriers simplify operations and launch new services. The deal extended Azure into telecommunications as operators move toward 5G. Terms were not disclosed.

With Affirmed Networks, we will be able to offer new and innovative solutions tailored to the unique needs of operators.Yousef Khalidi — Corporate Vice President, Azure Networking, Microsoft

Microsoft acquired Metaswitch Networks, a provider of virtualized, cloud-native network software and voice/data communications solutions for operators. It complemented Microsoft's earlier Affirmed Networks purchase, adding depth to Azure's infrastructure for virtualized communications. Terms were not disclosed.

The convergence of cloud and communication networks presents a unique opportunity for Microsoft to serve operators globally via continued investment in Azure.Yousef Khalidi — Corporate Vice President, Azure Networking, Microsoft

Microsoft acquired Semantic Machines, a Berkeley company using machine learning to build conversational AI that goes beyond command-and-response bots toward natural dialogue. Microsoft used the technology to advance products like Cortana. Financial terms were not disclosed.

With the acquisition of Semantic Machines, we will establish a conversational AI center of excellence in Berkeley.David Ku — CVP and Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft AI & Research

Microsoft acquired Citus Data, behind an open-source extension that turns PostgreSQL into a horizontally scalable distributed database. Microsoft said the technology would boost the performance and scale of its Azure PostgreSQL service. Financial terms were not disclosed.

I am thrilled to announce that we have acquired Citus Data, a leader in the PostgreSQL community.Rohan Kumar — Corporate Vice President, Azure Data, Microsoft

Microsoft acquired Fungible, a maker of composable infrastructure and low-power data processing units (DPUs) that accelerate networking and storage performance in datacenters. The Fungible team joined Microsoft's datacenter infrastructure engineering group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Microsoft is announcing the acquisition of Fungible Inc., a provider of composable infrastructure aimed at accelerating networking and storage performance in datacenters.Girish Bablani — Corporate Vice President, Azure Core, Microsoft