Microsoft is not anymore just a computer software development firm. It has branched out to consumer electronics and launched many products over the years. In order to solidify its position in the market, they have also made hundreds of acquisitions. Many companies Owned by Microsoft were acquired by spending Billions.
Microsoft has made ten acquisitions worth in Billions. The most recent acquisition by Microsoft was for Github, a code repository platform, worth a staggering $ 7.5Billion. But the most expensive acquisition was made back in 2016 which was worth roughly three times more than the acquisition of Github.
Companies Owned by Microsoft
Skype- $8.5 Billion (2011)
VoIP Services
There were many other players running the race of acquiring Skype, most notably Facebook and Google expressed their interest in the company. However, Microsoft beat them to it, they paid $8.56 Billion in cash for Skype. After it started operations back in 2003, it was acquired by eBay, which is now struggling to hold the majority market share of Search Engines.
Skype and Windows Live Messenger somewhat includes identical features but Skype lets users buy an International Phone Number. How cool is that! It is now included in the Microsoft Office 365 suite. Professionals use Skype for office collaboration. However, it is slowly losing market share to the 2014 startup- Slack.
aQuantive- $6.37 Billion (2007)
Advertising/Marketing Conglomerate
Microsoft acquired the firm aQuantive with an aim to grab a larger market share for online marketing, competing with Google. It was part of its Online Service Division, which also included Bing. However, the firm failed to meet estimated growth and profitability. In fact, it is estimated that since its acquisition, Online Service Division at Microsoft incurred losses amounting a whopping $9Billion. In 2012, the combined market share held by Yahoo and Microsoft took a plunge from previous 13.7% market share and dropped down to only 11.5%. It was the most expensive acquisition before Microsoft acquired Skype. Following its poor performance, in July of 2012, Microsoft wrote down $6.2 Billion from its balance sheet which was attributed to aQuantive.
Nokia- $8 Billion(2013)
Mobile Phone
The acquisition of Nokia was a major decision made by former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer. The deal was confirmed on April 2014. Microsoft took over the Devices department of Nokia which was responsible for making phones and tablets. The value of the acquisition was recorded to be $7.9 Billion, as recorded in their April 2015 documents provided to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.
However, the acquisition was a failure. In 2015, Microsoft wrote off the account which cost the company roughly $3 Billion more than the write-off of aQuantive. Along with he write-off came 7,800 job cuts.
GitHub-$7.5 Billion(2018)
Code Repository Website
The acquisition of Github was the second expensive one by current CEO Satya Nadella. Github is a popular platform for storing codes by individual programmers as well as big companies i.e. Google, Apple, and Amazon. As of today, roughly 28 Million individual programmers have used this platform.
LinkedIn-$26.2Billion(2016)
Professional Networking Website
I have been saving the best for the last. The most expensive buyout ever made by a Tech firm was the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft. Microsoft agreed to pay $196 for each share of LinkedIn.
Although the shift in ownership of LinkedIn, it has maintained its own culture and identity. It is because it was part of the acquisition deal. Nadella has been planning to integrate LinkedIn inside Microsoft’s Office Suite. Although the firm has been struggling to generate growth.
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