https://qz.com/1296043/microsoft-has-agreed-to-buy-github-for-7-5-billion/

Microsoft will purchase GitHub, an online code repository used by developers around the world, for $7.5 billion worth of company stock, it announced June 4. Github co-founder Chris Wanstrath will join Microsoft as a technical fellow, and the company will operate as an independent unit within Microsoft. Nat Friedman, former CEO of software company Xamarin (which Microsoft acquired in 2016), will serve as CEO. GitHub had been without a leader since Wanstrath stood down from the role a year ago.

The acquisition of GitHub will likely strengthen Microsoft’s cloud services offerings, with the company now able to provide developers with one place to work on their code and host their programs. It’s also a stark transition for Microsoft, which actively fought against open-source platforms in the 1990s and 2000s. Former CEO Steve Ballmer once referred to open-source operating system Linux as “a cancer.”