Microsoft Buys Yammers, Finally, For Over $1 Billion

Social network for businesses Yammer is bought by Microsoft and the $1 billion valuation’s true.

Microsoft acquires Yammer for over $1 billion dollars and will begin to integrate the service into its cloud-based programs

Microsoft has acquired Yammer after rumors the company would complete the acquisition, even if they were a bit late. The acquisition has gone through for over a billion dollars – $1.2 billion, specifically, and the service will continue to run alone as a standalone service while being integrated into Microsoft’s cloud portfolio.

Yammer’s CEO David Sacks said customers will continue to get a secure, private and social network. The acquisition means that, according to Sack, there will be integration with Microsoft’s services such as Office365 – a collection of cloud-based Microsoft and Office products – and Skype.

There were rumors Yammer wouldn’t be a front-end service – aimed at consumers – and instead would be focused on the enterprise.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, speaking to The Seattle Times, said Yammer has a sales model Microsoft likes and specifically wide adoption by the users. Microsoft also added Yammer fits well with the cloud products, a move Microsoft has already hinted towards with SkyDrive in Windows 8. Microsoft is moving all of its services to the cloud probably because the introduction of Windows 8 as a tablet OS means users will want content creation devices, which was a criticism aimed at the iPad when it debuted back in 2008.

Current Service Maintained

Yammer is available for free, but paying $5 per month gets access to the premium service. Yammer has five million users and has been running for four years.

Microsoft bought online chatting service Skype, with the service’s integration into Windows Phone 8 marking the first Microsoft product to use the software integrated. We should see the service roll out in the next generation of Xbox consoles and Xbox live, particularly with Kinect 2. The two technologies seem like a perfect fit, especially if there’s a way to chat between Surface and Windows 8 and Windows Phone and the Kinect.

We’ll have to see how Microsoft integrates Yammer into its services, but I don’t think it’ll be something as mainstream as Skype or Office. And if you’re using Yammer, I don’t think there’s any reason to worry if you’re already using the service.