Microsoft
Even though Microsoft made an early $240 million investment in Facebook
Rumors are now surfacing that Microsoft is in the process of acquiring Yammer, an enterprise-centric social network start-up. The service facilitates collaboration and information sharing within companies and is different from the dominant professional social network LinkedIn
Source: Yammer.
Yammer focuses on creating social networks within companies, but it helps you build external networks as well. It boasts 200,000 enterprise customers, including 85% of the Fortune 500. Its customer base is fairly diverse, including names like eBay, Ford, and Intuit, among others.
Acquiring the start-up would kick up Microsoft's competition with salesforce.com
Source: salesforce.com.
Back in February, Yammer had raised about $85 million in funding at a valuation of $500 million, and Bloomberg is separately corroborating the speculation and even adding a potential price tag of $1 billion to the deal, which could be inked as early as tomorrow.
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