Microsoft completes purchase of GitHub, says it'll retain 'distinctive spirit'

Microsoft's Nat Friedman will start Monday as CEO of the popular platform where developers share codes and programs.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter

Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.

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Marrian Zhou

Oct. 26, 2018 9:20 a.m. PT

img-0329-edit — Chris Wanstrath, GitHub CEO and co-founder (left); Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO; and Nat Friedman, Microsoft corporate vice president of developer services. Friedman will become GitHub CEO on Monday.
Richard Morgenstein/Microsoft

Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub is complete as of Friday.

Nat Friedman, corporate vice president of developer services at Microsoft, will become the new CEO of GitHub starting Monday, according to GitHub's blog post.

I’m thrilled to welcome GitHub to Microsoft. Together, we will continue to advance GitHub as a platform loved by developers and trusted by organizations. https://t.co/gAHyunO4Ko
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) October 26, 2018

Friedman said GitHub will continue to operate independently, make its platform accessible to more developers around the world, and maintain the site's reliability, security and performance. "This means that GitHub will retain its developer-first values, distinctive spirit, and open extensibility," Friedman wrote in the blog. Paper cuts project will also be one of the company's main focuses, which works with the GitHub community to fix small to medium-sized workflow problems, he added.

Microsoft confirmed in June that it agreed to acquire GitHub for $7.5 billon in stock. The acquisition helps Microsoft expand its focus on developing AI, tools and services that work across devices. The buyout came amid GitHub's nearly year-long search for a new CEO and its first profit from its services.

GitHub is a popular platform for software developers to share codes and programs. Microsoft developer Miguel de Icaza tweeted in June about the acquisition: "Satya looked at Microsoft's bill from all the code we host on GitHub and figured it would be cheaper to buy the company."

Satya looked at Microsoft’s bill from all the code we host on GitHub and figured it would be cheaper to buy the company.
— Miguel de Icaza (@migueldeicaza) June 4, 2018

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