Microsoft, the software giant, is expected to win antitrust approval for its $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub, the coding website.
Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported on Monday (Oct. 8) that the European Union will approve the deal with no conditions. Marking its largest acquisition since it acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for $26 billion, Microsoft is acquiring GitHub to increase its cloud computing business so it can better take on rival Amazon with its Amazon Web Services. Microsoft plans to keep GitHub as an open platform that works with all public clouds. The deal will be decided by the EU by Oct. 19, noted the report.
Microsoft’s cloud business has been booming with more growth expected in the years to come, but it is still a distant second to Amazon Web Services. It has slowly been chipping away at Amazon’s dominance, recently inking deals with some of its rivals, such as its partnership with Walmart. In July, the two announced that Walmart would leverage Microsoft’s cloud capabilities to make the shopping experience easier and faster for consumers.
In a statement at the time, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said, “Walmart’s commitment to technology is centered around creating incredibly convenient ways for customers to shop and empowering associates to do their best work.” With the partnership, engineers from both Microsoft and Walmart will collaborate to bring a large portion of Samsclub.com and Walmart.com to Microsoft Azure. And Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella remarked that “the world’s leading companies run on our cloud, and I’m thrilled to partner with Walmart to accelerate their digital transformation with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365.”
Microsoft also announced at the time that it is collaborating with Marks & Spencer Group (M&S). Through their strategic partnership, the companies will experiment with the integration of Microsoft AI technologies into M&S stores, as well as the retailer’s broader operations, retail news source Chain Store Age reported.
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