INTERNATIONAL – US software giant Microsoft is set to win unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $7.5 billion (R112bn) purchase of privately held coding website GitHub, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Microsoft announced the deal in June, its largest acquisition since it bought LinkedIn for $26bn in 2016. The GitHub deal is expected to boost the US software giant’s cloud computing business and challenge market leader Amazon.
GitHub, the world’s largest code host, has more than 28 million developers using its platform.
It will become a part of Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud unit once the acquisition is completed.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has tried to assuage users’ worries that GitHub might favour Microsoft products over competitors after the deal, saying GitHub would continue to be an open platform that works with all public clouds.
The European Commission, which is set to decide on the deal by October 19, did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Microsoft declined to comment.