Microsoft acquisitions: A timeline of growth (and a few missteps)

The tech industry has changed dramatically since Bill Gates and Microsoft introduced the Windows operating system in 1985. While other tech giants (at the time) — including Compaq, Lotus, and Netscape — were eventually acquired, Microsoft has continued to adapt and thrive, buying companies along the way as it sought to grow.

Microsoft, of course, is much more than a survivor. Its strategic acquisitions helped it both diversify its revenue streams and strengthen its position in a variety of markets. In fact, since it was founded in 1975, Microsoft has been one of the industry’s most acquisitive companies — with a body count approaching 300 — dating back to 1982 when it bought Xenix, a Unix-based operating system. The company’s biggest acquisition by far wasn’t an enterprise one, however. In 2022, it purchased digital game development company Activision Blizzard in a cash deal worth $68.7 billion.

Other key acquisitions include the 2016 deal to buy Groove Networks to enhance its enterprise collaboration offerings. That collaboration-focused buying spree also included acquiring Skype in 2010, the popular VoIP and video communication service that was perhaps a precursor to its Teams communications platform; the 2011 acquisition of Yammer, a popular enterprise social networking platform; and the 2016 acquisition of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion — its biggest acquisition to date at the time.

In 2018, in a move to solidify its commitment to developers, Microsoft shelled out $7.5 billion to snag GitHub, the popular code-sharing site and staple of the developer community.

Three years later, in 2021, Microsoft upped its game in conversational AI and speech recognition with Nuance Communications. In 2023, it acquired Fungible, a provider of composable infrastructure that uses low-power data processing units (DPUs).

Not every deal is a clearcut acquisition; take, for example, Microsoff’s quasi-merger with Inflection. While Microsoft didn’t technically acquire the AI startup, it hired the core team and bought additional assets, including access to Inflection IP. And not every deal or proposition ends in success — there were false starts such as Microsoft’s talks to acquire Yahoo and SAP and its ill-fated decision to buy Nokia.

Here’s a sampling of our coverage of Microsoft mergers and acquisitions over the years; watch this page for the latest information on new Microsoft mergers and acquisitions as they arise.

Microsoft to acquire Fungible for augmenting Azure networking, storage

April 4, 2023: Microsoft acquired composable infrastructure services provider Fungible for an undisclosed amount in an effort to augment its Azure networking and storage services. Microsoft’s Fungible acquisition is aimed at accelerating networking and storage performance in data centers with high-efficiency, low-power data processing units (DPUs), Girish Bablani, corporate vice president, Azure Core, wrote in a blog post.  

Microsoft’s latest OpenAI investment opens way to new enterprise services

Jan. 23, 2023: OpenAI landed billions of dollars more funding from Microsoft to continue its development of generative AI (genAI) tools such as Dall-E 2 and ChatGPT. It’s a move that’s likely to unlock similar investments from competitors — Google in particular — and open the way for new or improved software tools for enterprises large and small. The deal is likely to shake up the market for AI-based enterprise services, said Rajesh Kandaswamy, distinguished analyst and fellow at Gartner: “It provides additional impetus for Google to relook at its roadmap. It’s the same for other competitors like AWS.”

Did Microsoft make a bad $69B bet on Activision Blizzard?

Dec. 27, 2022: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the philosopher George Santayana warned 120 years ago. An even better-known philosopher, former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, put it more succinctly: “It’s déjà vu, all over again.” This refers to the antitrust battle Microsoft is waging with the US government over the company’s $69 billion agreement to buy game-maker Activision Blizzard. More than 30 years ago, Microsoft fought the feds in another antitrust suit over whether the software maker was using Windows’ monopolistic market share to kill competitors.

Microsoft to optimize process automation stack with Minit acquisition

April 4, 2022: Microsoft bought Minit, a developer of process mining software, to help its customers optimize business processes across the enterprise, on and off Microsoft Power Platform. The move came just days after Celonis announced its purchase of Process Analytics Factory to boost its own process mining offering on Microsoft Power Platform — and in the same week that SAP unveiled new functionality for Signavio, the process mining tool it acquired barely a year earlier, pulling together data on process performance and customer experience.

The Microsoft-Nuance Deal: A new push for voice technology?

April 21, 2021: Microsoft’s decision to acquire speech-recognition firm Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, the company’s biggest purchase since forking out $26 billion for LinkedIn, could provide a real boost for voice technology, analysts said. Microsoft, in a statement touting the deal, pointed to Nuance’s use of “cloud-based ambient clinical intelligence” in the healthcare industry. (Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later stressed that point in a webcast to talk about the purchase.)

Microsoft looks to give Yammer a new lease on life; can it?

Feb. 28, 2020: While Teams might be the focal point of Microsoft’s current collaboration strategy, Yammer — the enterprise social network it acquired in 2012 for $1.2 billion — hasn’t been exactly left for dead. In fact, Microsoft unveiled a complete redesign of the enterprise social network at its 2019 Ignite conference, offering up a new user interface based on Microsoft’s Fluent Design system, smart news feed recommendations, and tighter integration with Outlook, SharePoint and, of course, Teams. 

Microsoft buys GitHub for $7.5 billion

June 4, 2018: After several days of rumors to the effect, Microsoft announced plans to acquire code-sharing site GitHub for $7.5 billion. With the move, Microsoft planned to accelerate enterprise use of the platform, which holds repositories for open source software projects of all kinds, including software sponsored by Microsoft rivals such as Apple and Oracle. Although it has not been profitable, GitHub has generated revenues through private repositories and an on-premises version called GitHub Enterprise.

Microsoft is buying LinkedIn, but what’s the real motive?

June 13, 2016: In a move that resounded in an echo chamber, Microsoft bought the most well-known and useful social network for business, and it was quite an earth-shattering deal. Then company paid $26.2B in cash, or $196 per share. The LinkedIn deal was approved by both boards, but still needs to go through a regulatory approval process.

Microsoft’s Xamarin acquisition opens door to truly universal Windows apps

Feb. 24, 2016: After years of “will they, won’t they” speculation, Microsoft finally announced it would purchase Xamarin, the company that brought native Android and iOS development into Visual Studio. By building on.Net and C#, Xamarin provided Windows developers with an easy route to building applications outside the Windows ecosystem, without alienating users.

Microsoft writes off $7.6B, admits failure of Nokia acquisition

July 9, 2015: Microsoft today wrote off billions of dollars related to its Nokia acquisition, saying it’s taking an “impairment charge” of $7.6 billion, or nearly the full amount it paid for the Finnish firm’s smartphone business and patents in 2014. The announcement slapped the failure sticker on the last major move made by former CEO Steve Ballmer, who pushed for the Nokia deal in his final months in office against objections by, among others, Satya Nadella before he was elevated to the chief executive’s chair.

Microsoft abandons Yahoo acquisition

May 3, 2008: Microsoft has dropped its nearly three-month-long pursuit of Yahoo, ending a historic acquisition attempt whose failure takes Microsoft back to square one in its quest to boost its online business to better compete against Google. In response, Yahoo issued a statement reiterating its position that Microsoft’s offer was too low. (It also said that many Yahoo shareholders agreed with its position.) “We believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.

Microsoft, SAP say they considered merging

June 7, 2004: As part of its bid for a foothold in the enterprise applications market, Microsoft initiated merger discussions with enterprise resource planning leader SAP. The talks ended after Microsoft decided the deal, and the post-union integration, would be too risky.