Microsoft enjoys a name in the field of technology to fullest. Being one of the largest companies of the world, Microsoft, together with its owner Bill Gates contributes up to 30% of the total wealth of the world. Though the company has suffered from a serious downfall in last 5 years, the innovation it has provided to the world in the form of Window 8 is remarkable.
The company is much into the limelight for two hot chunks of news, one being the retirement of CEO Steve Ballmar and second being the owner of Nokia from now onwards. It is interesting to see that despite of the bad times the company has recovered with; Steve has given a new blow to the company by his last hit this September. If you pick the history of Microsoft, you will find it more like its strategy that it gets a hold of the business which apparently is dooming but its hidden potentials are inevitable.
Here are 10 most interesting mergers and acquisitions by Microsoft. Have a look!
1) Nokia
Business: Mobile Phones/ Smartphones
Value: $ 7,00,000,000
Country: Finland
Year: September 2, 2013
While the Finnish are still not ready to accept they have lost their identity in the world of technology, Microsoft is celebrating its latest move of taking over the company for only $7.2 Billion to be specific. The newly added brand will now be cashed by the company as it will now focus on a strongly integrated networking mechanism. For sure, this is the biggest move taken by Microsoft in the last decade.
2) Netbreeze
Business: Social analytics
Value:
Country: Switzerland
Year: March 19, 2013
Interesting enough, the company lately announced the acquisition of Netbreeze to bring social analytics and monitoring to Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers which would help them drive sales, optimize campaigns and engender customer loyalty.
3) Yammer
Business: Social Networking
Value: (USD) 1,200,000,000
Country: United States
Year: June 25, 2012
Microsoft, soon realizing that it needs to modify its expertise in social networking purchased Yammer to do the honors on its behalf. Yammer is a private social network that helps you and your company to stay connected and acquires better social popularity.
4) Skype
Business: Telecommunications
Value: 8,500,000,000
Country: Luxembourg
Year: May 10, 2011
Just now that it is Nokia which has made the world speechless; it was the acquisition of Skype back in 2011. This was one of the major moves taken by Microsoft and currently, Skype is contributing largely in making the company to earn smart.
5) AT&T Inc.
Business: Telecommunications
Value: 5,000,000,000
Country: United States
AT&T Inc is a big name in telecommunications globally. Interestingly, this too is a product of Microsoft now.
6) AVIcode, Inc.
Business: .Net monitoring technology
Country: United States
Year: October 6, 2010
Adding much to the blessings in the lives of the programmers and developers, AVIcode Inc. too was bought by Microsoft in 2010 which is used to monitor the .net framework, helping the developers to code with ease.
7) Jellyfish.com
Business: Search Engine
Country: United States
Year: October 2, 2007
Microsoft welcomes competition but fights really hard to beat its rivals. Google’s search engine, though has no match for now, Buying jellyfish.com in 2007 reveals that Microsoft still wants to take over the search engine market. You can search and buy goodies and appliances online here.
8) Great Plains Software
Business: Business management software
Value: 939,884,000
Country: United States
Year: April 5, 2001
For big companies which are basically related to business, it is Microsoft on which most of them rely on. Great Plains is efficient business management software which helps the analysts to handle data and produce appropriate results.
9) Visio Corporation
Business: Wholesale drawing software
Value: 1,375,000,000
Country: United States
Year: January 7, 2000
If you are affiliated to a field which needs drawing, poster designing or producing project diagrams, Visio is a tool which meets all your needs. The tool is highly important in terms of education and business and contributes a great deal in the Microsoft revenue.
10) Hotmail
Business: Internet software
Value: 500,000,000
Country: United States
Year: December 31, 1997
You might not be using MSN Messenger anymore or hate IE for different reasons, but you must still be a user of Hotmail if you ever had an account there. Hotmail is more than internet software. It is basically a mailing tool which Microsoft bought in 1997 and surely, this acquisition can be considered as a milestone in the success story of the company.
So you see that despite of the fact that Microsoft has suffered from a noticeable downfall in past few years, the company has still survived ensuring that its title reveals quality!
Share Your views,
Wishes,
They announced the acquisition of Nokia during my birthday! Hm… mixing feelings~ By the way, Yammer is a nice stuff to discover! 😀
In that case, you will never forget this acquisition for the rest of your life brother:)
Happy belated birthday.