back to article Microsoft buys Yammer in $1.2bn cash deal

The rumors were true: Microsoft has acquired business social networking firm Yammer in a 1.2bn cash deal announced on Monday. "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 …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never heard of Yammer - sounds useful though.....

    I'd never dream of using Facebook for business purposes (in fact, our rules strictly forbid it) but I do see how a social network could have its uses, especially across large project teams and if integrated into the tools they use. I reckon this is a smart move by MSFT.

    Now, to the business of convincing my employer to sign up to Yammer........

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Never heard of Yammer - sounds useful though.....

      Current site has just started using it - so far, it seems pretty useful for linking up their worldwide operations (IT, Engineering, etc)...

      On a side note, it looks a LOT like Facebook (feeds, groups, etc), but has Twitter features like mentions (using @), the ability to 'follow' people & hash tags

  2. LinkOfHyrule
    Joke

    "enterprise social networking"

    WTF is the word "social" doing in the middle of that expression - you're supposed to be bloody working not socialising! Bloody socialists!

    1. Euripides Pants
      Alien

      Re: "enterprise social networking"

      And I thought "Enterprise Social Networking" was social networking in SPAAAAAACE!

      1. Chris King
        Alien

        "JamesTKirk1701 unfriended GenericKlingon00807013 with a photon torpedo"

        If it means we can contact more advanced life forms, then maybe they can help explain the financial models of Facebook, Twitter etc ?

  3. Martin Huizing
    Pint

    Hmm..

    MSN Live, Google +, Yahoo chat, Q-Zone, Facebook, Twitter, Yammer(?), and all the others... (full list here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites)

    Will there ever be an end?

    It seems that every time 'a' large corporate mammoth eats one up only to shit it out in useless fashion gives way to another social service trying to fight its way to the top only to be swallowed by aforementioned.

    I wonder what the future of social networking is. It all started for me with ICQ and now I don't even know where to 'socially' interact with people... Thank God it is almost Friday so I can interact with people the way the Goddess of Drink intended...

    1. asdf
      Pint

      Re: Hmm..

      >Thank God it is almost Friday

      >Posted Monday 25th June 2012 20:21 GMT Martin Huizing

      Not to be pedantic but you get hungover during the week occasionally don't you lol.

  4. Combat Wombat
    FAIL

    Alternate title

    Microsoft Monkey CEO blows 1.2 billion dollars on pointless acquisition.

    Ballmer building case to be fired for incompetence.

    1. Captain Save-a-ho
      Facepalm

      Re: Alternate title

      Shareholders will have to admit, sooner or later, that Ballmer has done little to help maintain the values of their shares, given the failures in mobile, tablets and the idiotic direction of desktop OSes.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And what is the USP then?

    We had Yammer where I used to work. I think only about three people ever did more that a couple of posts. Horrible interface.

    Skype is not perfect but it is a whole load more use than Yammer ever was.

    I could never see any functionality in Yammer that was not already in use with other products. Yammer wasn't cheap either.

    Another load of the MS dosh wasted on a pile of steaming dog turd.

    1. asdf

      Re: And what is the USP then?

      >Skype is not perfect

      No but with Skype at least you can bitch among workers about the latest retarded thing management has done without worrying about the wrong people seeing it online.

  6. Zap

    Has Microsoft wasted $1.2bn and paid for hot air

    Call me old fashioned but the first consideration in any acquisition is ROI, it would take the annual gross revenue of 6,666,666 users (assuming ZERO costs) to get an ROI, but nobody has ever heard of Yammer because its market penetration is nominal.

    When I see a PUBLIC website that has a PRIVATE pagerank and Alexa rank, I always think they are hiding something, if nothing else these guide a true view of the popularity of the site. Compete.com shows their uniques at 63,669 down from a high of 102k per month last November. This makes it look like a site on the way OUT.

    Yes they have a few corporate names like DHL and Cap Gemini listed as clients but how much are they paying per month and can this be replicated?

    So that would suggest that Microsoft feels it could sell corporate microblogging to its own customers, fair enough but that raises another question, why not license the open source status.net and create their own platform, perhaps head hunt some people from Yammer to get a head start.

    When you think that Microsoft’s core business is SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT and it can’t manage to write something as simple as this, then you have to question the management decision making.

    $1.2bn, really!

    If I were a Microsoft shareholder I would be pressuring Microsoft on the real ROI and reducing my position on their shares.

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