GitHub: Microsoft to buy software development platform for $7.5bn

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft. “We recognise the community responsibility we take on with this agreement and will do our best work to empower every developer to build, innovate and solve the world’s most pressing challenges.” The deal marks a turnaround for Microsoft which once saw open source developers – who share and improve each others code – as a threat to its proprietary software business model. Former chief executive Steve Ballmer was highly critical of programmes built through open source platforms like GitHub.