Microsoft’s press release follows, verbatim:
REDMOND, Wash. and SAN FRANCISCO, June 25, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. and Yammer Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Yammer, a leading provider of enterprise social networks, for $1.2 billion in cash. Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division, led by division President Kurt DelBene, and the team will continue to report to current CEO David Sacks.
“The acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft. “Yammer adds a best-in-class enterprise social networking service to Microsoft’s growing portfolio of complementary cloud services.”
Launched in 2008, Yammer now has more than 5 million corporate users, including employees at 85 percent of the Fortune 500. The service allows employees to join a secure, private social network for free and then makes it easy for companies to convert a grassroots movement into companywide strategic initiative.
Yammer will continue to develop its standalone service and maintain its commitment to simplicity, innovation and cross-platform experiences. Moving forward, Microsoft plans to accelerate Yammer’s adoption alongside complementary offerings from Microsoft SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Skype.
“When we started Yammer four years ago, we set out to do something big,” Sacks said. “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.”
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
SourceL: Microsoft
Related article:
Microsoft to buy Yammer for over $1 billion – June 15, 2012
Keep Buying MicroSoft! Keep Buying!
Who?
55 social networks are ranked higher than Yammer (base on Alexa page views):
1. Google (includes Google+, YouTube Orkut, etc, 1 billion users)
2. Facebook (1 billion users)
4. Yahoo (includes Flickr, YahooSports, etc, 1 billion users)
8. Twitter (300 million users)
12. LinkedIn (120 million users)
28. Sina Weibo (Chinese, 300 million users)
38. Pinterest (user base unknown)
65. Odnoklassniki (Russian, 45 million users)
95. Renren (Chinese, 160 million users)
106. douban (Chinese, 46 million users)
115. LiveJournal (15 million users)
118. Badoo (Europe & Latin America, 133 million users))
131. deviantART (22 million users)
146. StumbleUpon (10 million users)
161. Myspace (100 million users)
186. Yelp (user base unknown)
214. Taringa! (primarily Argentina, 11 million users)
232. mixi (24 million users)
270. XING Business (primarily Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, 11 million users)
284. Kaixin001 (Chinese, user base unknown)
288. Tagged (100 million users)
299. SoundCloud (1 million users)
378. Ning (user base unknown)
435. Viadeo (35 million users)
436. delicious (8 million users)
481. Meetup (user base unknown)
544. Goodreads (user base unknown)
545. Netlog (Popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab World, and Canada’s Québec province; 70, million users)
710. Skyrock (Social Network in French-speaking world, 22 million users)
749. Cloob (Farsi, user base unknown)
772. Last.fm (30 million users)
817. Foursquare (20 million users)
902. hi5 (popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal and Latin America; 80 million users)
1,083. Tuenti (Spanish-based university and High School social network, 12 million users)
1,143. Ibibo (Most popular in India, 4 million users)
1,293. CafeMom (1 million users)
1,367. WAYN (10 million users)
1,616. Cyworld (Popular in South Korea, 24 million users)
1,765. MyLife (51 million users)
1,806. ReverbNation.com (.5 million users)
1,885. myYearbook (20 million users)
1,930. Care2 (10 million users)
1,991. Plurk (Very popular in Taiwan)
2,147. Wer-kennt-wen (German)
2,231. CouchSurfing (3 million users)
2,243. Hyves (mostly popular in the Netherlands, 10 million users)
2,658. Experience Project (user base unknown)
2,676. Sonico.com (Popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions, 17 million users)
2,698. Draugiem.lv (popular in Hungary, Latvia, & Lithuania; 3 million users)
3,062. Gather.com (0.4 million users)
3,151, FilmAffinity (0.25 million users)
3,168. Fotolog (Popular in South America and Spain, 20 million users)
3,284. Classmates.com (50 million users)
3,340. MouthShut (user base unknown)
3,498. Ravelry (Knitting and crochet, 2 million users)
and at #3,622 Yammer (user base unknown). Way to blow $1.2 bn! May Ballmer remain CEO for as long as it takes.
I like MS’s strategy… I like it a *lot*.
For as long as it takes.
I don’t believe Yammer competes against any of those, which are all public social networking.
Yammer is for corporate networks and companies use it internally. MS wants to use Yammer to do “viral” marketing of their corporate products.
I’m not saying this acquisition was good, but I don’t think this list is relevant.
Microsoft wasn’t looking for the most popular, or the best, just a network with the fewest complaints over the other 3, 621 that are for sale.
You know, something that has been proven to work BEFORE Microsoft got its hands on it.
and with an awful name like YAMMER, Microsloth won’t even have to re-brand it! 😉
Of course they will.
Microsoft Yammer 2012 Enterprise Services Premium Home and Student Edition.
Dot com
Ya got me!!
No, no you must have missed the last memo. Marketing had an emergency meeting and came up with this super new name that better reflects the innovation and commitment of Microsoft.
Microsoft Yammer 2012 Enterprise Services Premium Home and Student Edition Live Mesh RT with Office 2013 Ultimate Ribbon Starter Pack 365 and Xbox Live SmartGlass Gold Subscription 1-Month Free Trial
.Net 3.5 2011 Service Pack 5.11.53862
dot com
Kiss of death to another product so rebranding it is pointless.
They’re going to merge Yammer with Skype to form the ultimate communications took for business… ironically called ‘Skammer’.
Or is it “Yipes!”?
🙂
Shhh! No one is supposed to know Microsoft’s middle name!
On Yammer’s job page “Highly competitive salaries
Beautiful workspaces, with shiny new Apple products.
Free catered lunch, dinner, and afternoon treats…”
All that’ll be changing soon then- especially the “shiny new Apple products”. Soon be worth checking the dumpster out back.
Afternoon treats? The mind boggles.
The word Yammer is pronounced quite like the Danish word jammer which means misery or lamentation.
Buy more… buy more… Facebook copycat now? You’re both dead.
Social Network in the enterprise….
Are they talking about new “Fat Free” fat?
speaking of non senses… did you hear about NYT looking for Eric T Mole to become its CEO? that expelling a lot of the non sense news in NYT related to Apple.
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-ceo-2012-6
As in here comes Balmer to the stage to yammer about the next Microsoft abomination.
Five million corporate users and 85% of Fortune 500 companies use Yammer. The first number is definitive and the second number is hyped and next to meaningless. Good luck with that …
I seriously hope fat head buys RIMM and AOL for $25 billion.
apiece.
From the Yammer site:
“We’re a startup in San Francisco and we do the things you expect of a startup in San Francisco. We eat catered meals. Employees bring dogs to the office. We’ve got a Street Fighter II machine and a fridge full of beers and delicious snacks come by on a cart every afternoon around three. But that isn’t why you want to work here. You want to work here because you’re talented and want to use that talent to change the world. You want to work in a place where everyone is smarter than you are in one way or another. Your job at Yammer will demand more of you than any job you’ve had before. Not more hours, but more boldness, more honesty, and more humility.”
Great place to work get drunk, pig out, pay video games and play with your dog. Is free dog food provided or do the dogs eat off the snack cart. Watch where you walk so you don’t step into the dog poop. Will really fit well with the Microsoft culture.
You forget, Microsoft is the company that created the concept of eating your own dog food.
Purchased by Microsoft? Yammer just received the kiss of death.
I never had any experience with them, but damn, I still feel for the employees. Prepare to have your corporate culture poisoned by toxic miasma piped in from Redmond, followed by layoffs and the ultimate shuttering of the doors. Godspeed, you poor unfortunate bastards.
Holy crap, Ballmer is just unbelievably stupid. I mean burning, felony-grade stupid.
My condolences to the employees of Yammer.
(we know, we know! but you’re not supposed to tell anyone!)
Isn’t it cheaper for MS to build a social networking application from scratch than just the legal bill of acquiring an existing company for 1.2 billion?
What, Microsoft learn how to write modern web code? The absurdity. 😆
Man I need to build a social site called “HammerHead: A social Network for NitWits”! Then just wait for Ballmer to reach deep in his sweaty pocket and pull out a wad of money! I hope thats all that comes out. LOL
Spend Ballmer! Spend SPEND SPEND SPEND!
Microsoft isn’t the only one known to spend more money for something. And, yes, I understand the difference between the value and price of something.