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Microsoft embraces collaboration in $7.5 billion deal for GitHub

FILE - This July 3, 2014 file photo shows Microsoft Corp. signage outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft says it's paying $7.5 billion in stock for the popular coder hangout GitHub. (AP Photo Ted S. Warren, File) FILE - This July 3, 2014 file photo shows Microsoft Corp. signage outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft says it's paying $7.5 billion in stock for the popular coder hangout GitHub. (AP Photo Ted S. Warren, File)

By Associated Press June 5, 2018 3 min read

Microsoft is paying $7.5 billion for the popular coder hangout GitHub as the maker of Windows further embraces the types of open-source projects it used to shun.

CEO Satya Nadella said the all-stock deal pairs Microsoft with the “world’s leading software development platform,” a destination where developers around the world go to share and review each other’s code.

As Microsoft built its business on proprietary software such as the Windows operating system, it came to be seen as an antagonist to the open-source philosophy of free software written by a collaborative community of developers. The company has been working for years to shed that reputation, especially after Nadella took over in 2014.

“Developers will be at the center of solving the world’s most pressing challenges,” Nadella said in a blog post Monday. “However, the real power comes when every developer can create together, collaborate, share code and build on each other’s work.”

This is not the first time Microsoft has bought into a community. Its biggest-ever deal was its $27 million acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016.