Microsoft to buy Yammer for $1.2bn

Microsoft has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire enterprise social networks provider Yammer for $1.2bn (£768m).

Yammer launched in 2008 and provides businesses with a service to allow its employees to join a private network and communicate with each other.

According to Microsoft, the enterprise social networks provider has more than five million corporate users, including employees at 85 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies.

Yammer will continue to develop its standalone service but Microsoft has plans to integrate Yammer alongside SharePoint, Office 365 and Skype while developing the existing integration with Microsoft Dynamics that was announced in April.

Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division which is led by its president, Kurt DelBene, while its team will continue to report to current Yammer CEO David Sacks.

"The acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love," said CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer.

Sacks said that when the company launched it had big plans, and it can now realise these plans with the help of Microsoft.

"We had a vision for how social networking could change the way we work. Joining Microsoft will accelerate that vision and give us access to the technologies, expertise and resources we'll need to scale and innovate," he said.

In April, Yammer acquired UK collaboration specialist OneDrum to differentiate itself from many of its competitors.

At the time, Yammer's general manager of EMEA, George Ell, told Computing that OneDrum's desktop synchronisation feature and a "co-create" facility would differentiate it from Chatter, Jive and Newsgator.

Microsoft's acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.