The big question on everyone’s mind is what does Yammer do? The other intriguing bit is why Microsoft is paying nearly $1 to $1.4 billion to acquire it? When Facebook bought Instagram for a $1 billion at least everyone knew what Instagram was all about.
But there is the fact that Yammer caters to corporate consumers. Yammer provides a secure, private social network for companies. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal
Yammer seeks to get workers to adopt its free social-networking features in the hopes their employers will catch on and pay for upgrades. Yammer has said it has more than four million corporate users, only 20% of which are paying for Yammer services.
So why does Microsoft want Yammer? This Bloomberg report says,Gaining closely-held Yammer would help Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, add social-networking tools to the suite of products it offers corporate customers.
Does Microsoft plan to bring social networking to its Office Suit? The Yammer deal has raised suspicions that its planning something on those lines. Microsoft is also planning a big announcement on Monday and is being super secretive about it.
via : firstpost.com