Microsoft announces acquisition of Yammer

Microsoft has confirmed that it is acquiring Yammer for $1.2 billion, after rumors surfaced earlier. The business social media company will become part of Microsoft’s Office branch.

According to Microsoft, Yammer CEO David Sacks will remain in charge, although he will report to Kurt DelBene within the Office Division, which will include the company. Yammer may continue to develop its software products independently, but it is likely that integration with Microsoft software will follow. Currently, Yammer already supports integration with Microsoft Sharepoint.

Yammer can be seen as a business variant of Twitter and has been active since 2008. Companies can create an internal community in which employees can exchange messages. There are currently about 5 million business users.

There were already rumors of an imminent acquisition of Yammer by Microsoft. Earlier it was leaked that there were talks between the two companies.