June 19, 2012 - Why Yammer Is Worth $1 Billion to Microsoft
Microsoft seems to be at the center of all the rumors right now in a way normally reserved for Apple. Aside form the mystery media event in Los Angeles later today(June 18th), where Microsoft is expected to make a tablet-related announcement of some sort; it’s also the focus of speculation that it is finalizing talks to acquire Yammer for around $1 billion.
Yammer is a social network with a twist. It’s a private social network intended for business use. Yammer is like Facebook, but a Facebook that’s segregated from the rest of the Internet, and that provides monitoring and controls for IT admins to be able to enforce policies and protect information.
So, what’s in it for Microsoft? A billion dollars may not mean as much to Microsoft as it does to Facebook, but there still has to be a valid underlying reason to spend that kind of money. The answer seems to point to SharePoint.
