Thursday, June 14, 2012

Report: Yammer Being Acquired By Microsoft

Yammer, the business focused micromessaging service which started as an offspring of Los Angeles-based family tree and genealogy site Geni, is reportedly in the last legs of a deal to be acquired by Microsoft for more than $1 billion. According to Bloomberg and other sources, the deal is expected to be announced as early as Friday. Rumors of Yammer being in acquisition talks came, initially, via conversations overheard in San Francisco in a number of locations as Yammer employees apparently talked about the deal with coworkers at local watering holes. Yammer--which was started as a side project out of Geni in Los Angeles--is led by former PayPal exec David Sacks, and had a rocky relationship with the local tech community from the start, after Sacks faced some friction in funding the effort from investors here doubtful of the firm's initial valuation. Sacks--whose personal network is centered in Silicon Valley--eventually moved the whole company to Silicon Valley.