Microsoft Wants Social Startup, Trying to Yammer Out the Details

Microsoft MSFT is looking to spend more than $1 billion to acquire another company. This time it's Yammer, a four-year-old enterprise that created a social network for the corporate world. According to Bloomberg, Yammer could help Microsoft "add social-networking tools to the suite of products it offers corporate customers." Microsoft is not the only firm on a spending spree. Bloomberg data shows that corporations spent more than $17 billion on enterprise software acquisitions in 2011. Two years prior, corporations spent just $715.5 million on similar acquisitions. It's not as if they have a choice. Between the numerous patent disputes and the search for new revenue drivers, corporations are eager to acquire firms that can provide legal protection and/or improve their bottom line. And with buyouts occurring so frequently, some companies attempt to buy the latest-and-greatest startups before their competitors have the chance to make an offer. Around the Web, tech reporters are convinced that Yammer's technology could be of great use to Microsoft. "If Microsoft proves to be the buyer, then it would give the Windows and Office giant a key piece of technology to offer its enterprise customers," AllThingsD's Arik Hesseldahl wrote in a report. "One big argument for the existence of the social enterprise software business is to attack Microsoft's outdated collaboration software, SharePoint." ZDNet's Eileen Brown seems to concur with that assessment, writing, "Yammer would nicely complement existing functions and features of Microsoft Lync whilst bringing together Lync and SharePoint." Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ