Microsoft to Buy Social Network Yammer for $1.2bn

Microsoft has agreed to buy the Online social network firm Yammer for $1.2 billion in cash, which would allow the software giant to offer Facebook-like sharing features in its business applications.

Yammer was launched in 2008. It specializes in creating in-company social networks to facilitate internal communication and interaction among employees within the same company. It allows employees to create groups, share comments, photos, videos, update their status and more. The service is described as a “Facebook for business”. It has more than 5 million users worldwide.

According to a Microsoft statement, Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division and the team will continue to report to current Yammer CEO David Sacks.

While speaking about the deal, Microsoft said, “The acquisition of Yammer adds best-in-class enterprise social networking to Microsoft’s growing portfolio of complementary cloud services; world-class talent that knows how to deliver rapid innovation in the cloud; and a unique adoption model that appeals directly to end users.”

Microsoft has also said that it will use Yammer’s technology to spruce up the collaboration experience in Office 365 in the near future, by adding social features to the software, similar to those found in Google Docs.