List of mergers and acquisitions by Microsoft
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File:Microsoft logo (2012).svg
Microsoft is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite market with Microsoft Office. The company has diversified in recent years into the video game industry with the Xbox, the Xbox 360, the Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X/S as well as into the consumer electronics and digital services market with Zune, MSN and the Windows Phone OS.
The company's initial public offering was held on March 14, 1986. The stock, which eventually closed at $27.75 a share, peaked at $29.25 a share shortly after the market opened for trading. After the offering, Microsoft had a market capitalization of $519.777 million.{{cite news |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=March 14, 1986 |title=Microsoft1 Stock is Red Hot on First Trading Day |author=Monkman, Carol Smith}} Microsoft has subsequently acquired over 225 companies, purchased stakes in 64 companies, and made 25 divestments. Of the companies that Microsoft has acquired, 107 were based in the United States. Microsoft has not released financial details for most of these mergers and acquisitions.
Since Microsoft's first acquisition in 1986, it has purchased an average of six companies a year. The company purchased more than ten companies a year between 2005 and 2008, and it acquired 18 firms in 2006, the most in a single year, including Onfolio, Lionhead Studios, Massive Incorporated, ProClarity, Winternals Software, and Colloquis. Microsoft has made fourteen acquisitions worth over one billion dollars: Skype Technologies (2011), aQuantive (2007), Fast Search & Transfer (2008), Navision (2002), Visio Corporation (2000), Yammer (2012), Nokia's mobile and devices division (2013), Mojang (2014), LinkedIn (2016), GitHub (2018), Affirmed Networks (2020), ZeniMax Media (2020), Nuance Communications (2021), and Activision Blizzard (2022).
Microsoft has also purchased several stakes valued at more than a billion dollars. It obtained an 11.5% stake in Comcast for $1 billion, a 22.98% stake in Telewest for $2.263 billion, and a 3% stake in AT&T for $5 billion. Among Microsoft's divestments, in which parts of the company are sold to another company, only Expedia Group was sold for more than a billion dollars; USA Networks purchased the company on February 5, 2002, for $1.372 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1372000000|start_year=2002}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).
Key acquisitions
One of Microsoft's first acquisitions was Forethought on July 30, 1987. Forethought was founded in 1983 and developed a presentation program that would later be known as Microsoft PowerPoint.{{cite news |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/10/1084041320078.html |title=Vision of the future |work=The Age |date=May 11, 2004 |author=Cochrane, Nathan |location=Melbourne}}
On December 31, 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail.com for $500 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=500000000|start_year=1997}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}), its largest acquisition at the time, and integrated Hotmail into its MSN group of services.{{cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1033-206717.html |title=Microsoft buys Hotmail |website=CNET |publisher=CBS Interactive |date=January 3, 1998 |author=Pelline, Jeff |access-date=November 10, 2016}} Hotmail, a free webmail service founded in 1996 by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia,{{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980107/00750984.html |title=Hotmail prodigy is a sizzling millionaire |website=The Indian Express |date=January 7, 1998 |author=Rajghatta, Chidanand |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803010737/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980107/00750984.html |archive-date=August 3, 2009}} had more than 8.5 million subscribers earlier that month.{{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-206039.html |title=Hotmail, Microsoft talk deals |website=CNET |publisher=CBS Interactive |date=December 5, 1997 |author=Pelline, Jeff}}
In 1999, Microsoft reportedly discussed a buyout of Nintendo. However, execs failed to negotiate a deal, with Xbox co-inventor Kevin Bachus explaining "They just laughed their asses off."{{cite web | url=https://nintendoeverything.com/microsoft-tried-to-acquire-nintendo-before-starting-its-xbox-business-but-was-laughed-out-of-the-room-during-their-meeting/ | title=Microsoft tried to acquire Nintendo before starting its Xbox business, but was laughed out of the room during their meeting | date=January 6, 2021 }}{{cite web | url=https://mynintendonews.com/2021/11/24/microsoft-has-partially-published-the-1999-letter-from-their-attempt-to-buy-nintendo/ | title=Microsoft has partially published the 1999 letter from their attempt to buy Nintendo | date=November 24, 2021 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.gonintendo.com/stories/375001-20-years-ago-microsoft-reportedly-approached-nintendo-in-a-humil | title=20 years ago, Microsoft reportedly approached Nintendo in a humiliating attempt to acquire the company | date=January 6, 2021 }}
Microsoft acquired Seattle-based Visio Corporation on January 7, 2000, for $1.375 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1375000000|start_year=2000}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). Visio, a software company, was founded in 1990 as Axon Corporation, and had its initial public offering in November 1995.{{cite web |access-date=June 27, 2011 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63383110.html |title=Jeremy Jaech enters the corporate world of Microsoft |website=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=February 7, 2000 |author=Richman, Dan |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106054746/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63383110.html |archive-date=November 6, 2012}} The company developed the diagramming application software, Visio, which was integrated into Microsoft's product line as Microsoft Visio after its acquisition.
On July 12, 2002, Microsoft purchased Navision for $1.33 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1330000000|start_year=2002}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). The company, which developed the technology for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV enterprise resource planning software, was integrated into Microsoft as a new division named Microsoft Business Solutions,{{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/Jul02/07-11NavisionAcquisitionPR.mspx |title=Microsoft Acquires Navision |publisher=Microsoft |date=July 11, 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104075109/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/Press/2002/Jul02/07-11NavisionAcquisitionPR.mspx |archive-date=January 4, 2009}} later renamed to Microsoft Dynamics.{{cite news |title=Solutions to dynamics |publisher=Factiva |date=October 4, 2005 |author=Ngelaine, Elaine}}
Microsoft purchased aQuantive, an advertising company, on August 13, 2007, for $6.333 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=6333000000|start_year=2007}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). Before the acquisition, aQuantive was ranked 14th in terms of revenue among advertising agencies worldwide. aQuantive had three subsidiaries at the time of the acquisition: Avenue A/Razorfish, one of the world's largest digital agencies,{{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://adage.com/datacenter/datapopup.php?article_id=126721 |title=Top 50 Digital Agencies |website=Advertising Age |year=2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081115093135/http://adage.com/datacenter/datapopup.php?article_id=126721 |archive-date=November 15, 2008}} Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions.{{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-to-buy-Aquantive-for-6-billion/2100-1030_3-6184778.html |title=Microsoft to buy Aquantive for $6 billion |website=CNET |publisher=CBS Interactive |date=May 18, 2007 |author1=Kane, Margaret |author2=Kawamoto, Dawn}}
Microsoft acquired the Norwegian enterprise search company Fast Search & Transfer on April 25, 2008, for $1.191 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1191000000|start_year=2008}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) to boost its search technology.{{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://www.informationweek.com/microsofts-fast-search-and-transfer-lays-out-product-roadmap/d/d-id/1064766 |title=Microsoft's Fast Search And Transfer Lays Out Product Roadmap |website=InformationWeek |publisher=United Business Media |date=February 19, 2008 |author=Weier, Mary Hayes}}
On May 10, 2011, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Skype Technologies, creator of the VoIP service Skype, for $8.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=8500000000|start_year=2011}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{cite web |last=Swisher |first=Kara |author-link=Kara Swisher|url=http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110509/microsoft-will-announce-acquistion-of-skype-tomorrow-morning/ |title=Microsoft to Announce Skype Acquisition Early Tomorrow Morning | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD |publisher=Kara.allthingsd.com |access-date=November 10, 2016}} With a value 32 times larger than Skype's operating profits, the deal was Microsoft's largest acquisition at the time.{{cite news |title=Microsoft confirms $8.5bn Skype deal |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/may/10/microsoft-confirms-skype-deal |access-date=May 10, 2011 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=May 10, 2011 |location=London |first=Josh |last=Halliday}}{{cite news |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2e142854-7b2a-11e0-9b06-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1LtCJH6ph |title=Skype price raises fears of new tech bubble |newspaper=Financial Times |date=May 10, 2011 |access-date=May 10, 2011}} Skype would become a division within Microsoft, with Skype's former CEO Tony Bates —then the division's first president —reporting to the CEO of Microsoft.{{cite news |title=Microsoft Agrees to Buy Skype for $8.5 Billion to Add Web Calls |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/microsoft-said-to-be-negotiating-purchase-of-internet-call-provider-skype.html |access-date=May 10, 2011 |newspaper=Bloomberg |date=May 10, 2011 |first1=Dina |last1=Bass |first2=Douglas |last2=MacMillan |first3=Joseph |last3=Galante |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510125932/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/microsoft-said-to-be-negotiating-purchase-of-internet-call-provider-skype.html |archive-date=May 10, 2011}}
On September 2, 2013, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire the mobile hardware division of Nokia (which had established a long-term partnership with Microsoft to produce smartphones built off its Windows Phone platform){{cite web |author=Latest Video |url=http://allthingsd.com/20110601/why-windows-phone-instead-of-android-nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-explains/ |title=Nokia CEO Stephen Elop Chooses Microsoft Windows Phone OS Over Android — John Paczkowski — D9 |publisher=AllThingsD |date=June 1, 2011 |access-date=June 14, 2013}} in a deal worth 3.79 billion euros, along with another 1.65 billion to license Nokia's portfolio of patents. Steve Ballmer considered the purchase to be a "bold step into the future" for both companies, primarily as a result of its recent collaborations. The acquisition, scheduled to close in early 2014 pending regulatory approval, did not include the Here mapping service or the infrastructure division Nokia Solutions and Networks, which will be retained by Nokia.{{cite web |title=The Next Chapter: An open letter from Steve Ballmer and Stephen Elop |url=http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/09/02/the-next-chapter-an-open-letter-from-steve-ballmer-and-stephen-elop.aspx |website=The Official Microsoft Blog |access-date=September 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904172756/http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/09/02/the-next-chapter-an-open-letter-from-steve-ballmer-and-stephen-elop.aspx |archive-date=September 4, 2013 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Microsoft buys Nokia's Devices and Services Unit, unites Windows Phone 8 and its hardware maker |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/2/4688530/microsoft-buys-nokias-devices-and-services-unit-unites-windows-phone |website=The Verge |access-date=September 3, 2013 |date=September 3, 2013}} While the deal went through, in May 2016 Microsoft abandoned its mobile business and sold the Nokia feature phone line.
In September 2014, Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=2500000000|start_year=2014}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{Cite news|last=Tsukayama|first=Hayley|date=September 15, 2014|title=What is Minecraft and why did Microsoft just spend $2.5 billion on it?|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/09/15/what-is-minecraft-and-why-did-microsoft-just-spend-2-5-billion-on-it/|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908144307/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/09/15/what-is-minecraft-and-why-did-microsoft-just-spend-2-5-billion-on-it/|archive-date=September 8, 2016|issn=0190-8286}}
On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced it planned to acquire the professional networking site LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, to be completed by the end of 2016. The acquisition would keep LinkedIn as a distinct brand and retain its current CEO, Jeff Weiner, who will subsequently report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-to-acquire-linkedin-in-deal-valued-at-26-2-billion-1465821523 |title=Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion |first1=Jay |last1=Greene |first2=Anne |last2=Steele |date=June 13, 2016 |access-date=June 13, 2016 |work=Wall Street Journal}} The acquisition was completed on December 8, 2016.{{Cite web |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-microsoft-our-next-play-begins-jeff-weiner |title=LinkedIn + Microsoft: Our Next Play Begins |website=www.linkedin.com}}
On June 4, 2018, Microsoft acquired the popular code repository site GitHub for $7.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=7500000000|start_year=2018}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in Microsoft stock.{{Cite news |url=https://news.microsoft.com/2018/06/04/microsoft-to-acquire-github-for-7-5-billion/ |title=Microsoft to acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion |date=June 4, 2018 |work=Stories |access-date=June 29, 2018 |language=en-US}}
On September 21, 2020, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire ZeniMax Media and all its subsidiaries for $7.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=7500000000|start_year=2020}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).
The acquisition was completed on March 9, 2021.
On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard, an American video game holding company, for $68.7 billion in cash.{{Cite news|url=https://news.microsoft.com/2022/01/18/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/ |title=Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard to bring joy and community of gaming to everyone across every device | date=January 18, 2022 |work=stories |access-date=January 18, 2022 | language=en-US}} The deal has been approved by both companies' board of directors and was finalized on October 13, 2023, with the total cost of the acquisition amounting to $75.4 billion, following international government regulatory review of the action.{{Cite web |last=SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION |first=UNITED STATES |date=January 30, 2024 |title=MICROSOFT FORM 10-Q |url=https://microsoft.gcs-web.com/node/32336/html}}{{Cite web |last=Lombardo |first=Cara |date=January 18, 2022 |title=Microsoft to Buy Activision Blizzard in All-Cash Deal Valued at $75 Billion |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-to-buy-activision-blizzard-games-11642512435}}
Acquisitions
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Stakes
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Divestitures
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See also
Notes
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References
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Sources
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- {{cite web |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://www.alacrastore.com/mergers-acquisitions/Microsoft_Corporation-1011097 |title=Microsoft Corporation Mergers and Acquisitions |publisher=Thomson Financial |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803102825/http://www.alacrastore.com/mergers-acquisitions/Microsoft_Corporation-1011097 |archive-date=August 3, 2009}}
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External links
- {{Official website|http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx|Microsoft official website}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061106065535/http://www.microsoft.com/msft/acquisitions/history.mspx Microsoft Investor Relations – Acquisitions]
- [https://www.techi.com/infographic-of-microsofts-vast-legacy-of-acquisition/ Infographic of Microsoft's vast legacy of acquisition | Techi.com]
- [http://www.infocaptor.com/dashboard/list-of-acquisitions-by-microsoft-a-data-journey Dashboard and analysis of all Microsoft acquisitions]
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