Yammer’s Next Chapter

I am pleased to announce that Yammer has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Microsoft.    After the close of the deal, Microsoft will continue to invest in Yammer’s stand-alone service, and the team will remain under my direction within the Microsoft’s Office Division.

When Adam Pisoni and I started Yammer, we set out to do something big.  When most people thought social networking was for kids, we had a vision for how it could change the way we work.  Four years ago, we started paddling out to catch the wave that we’re riding today.

With the backing of Microsoft, our aim is to massively accelerate our vision to change the way work gets done with software that is built for the enterprise and loved by users.

As a Yammer customer, you will continue to get a secure, private social network—delivered with the same focus on simplicity, innovation, and cross-platform experiences.  Over time, you’ll see more and more connections to SharePoint, Office365, Dynamics and Skype.

Yammer’s expertise in empowering employees, driving voluntary adoption, and delivering rapid innovation in the cloud will not only continue to power our stand-alone service, but also help shape the communication and collaboration experiences in Office 365.

You can find more information in this press release.

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75 Responses to Yammer’s Next Chapter

  1. Mike Grace says:

    Wow! Congrats! Look forward to more awesomeness!

  2. David Tran says:

    Congrats David and team!

  3. Pingback: It’s Official: Microsoft Confirms It Has Acquired Yammer For $1.2 Billion In Cash » Tech Blog

  4. Rich Hoeg says:

    Congrats all around! It has been fun working with the Yammer team for the past 3+ years, and serving on your Customer Advisory Board. More importantly, Yammer is changing in a very positive manner the way geographically distributed work teams are able to collaborate.

    • Maria says:

      Hi Rich! Thank you for the comment and for your continued support. We wouldn’t be here without the vision and support of our customers!

  5. Jelle says:

    Congratulations to the whole Yammer team!

  6. mc says:

    Please help fixing the Sharepoint user experience. My users love Yammer and hate Sharepoint: simplicity and clarity is the key to enterprise adoption.

    • Joel says:

      Microsoft tried fixing Sharepoint simplicity and user experience with the acquisition of the once awesome Groove Networks…Grove Networks is gone, and Sharepoint remains unusable. I am hopeful, but not optimistic Yammer as a tool, and Yammer users will be benefitted by this decision. Oh well, we’ve probably got a year to start strategizing our exit plan….again.
      I’m not trying to be negative or an MS basher, I just really have little hope that this will be good…based on our experience, especially with Sharepoint. These platform moves are so disruptive ;(

    • Farooq says:

      Agree!

  7. Pingback: Microsoft Acquires Yammer For $1.2 Billion | garyzhou.com

  8. Pingback: Microsoft buys Yammer for $1.2 billion | gazedice.com

  9. Steve says:

    Congratulations! Looking forward to the future (would love to see deep integration on Windows Phone!)

    • Maria says:

      Thank you! Although it’s too early to talk specifics, as the deal is not yet final, we plan to continue and accelerate development on all fronts.

      Sincerely,

      - Maria

  10. I want to thank everyone at Yammer for their passion, hard work, commitment, and great execution. I am incredibly proud of what you’ve built. Thank you.

    George Zachary
    CRV

  11. Pingback: It’s Official: Microsoft Confirms It Has Acquired Yammer For $1.2 Billion In Cash | Simply P Squared

  12. Congratulations Yammer and the team! :)

  13. Byron says:

    Yeah, congratulation to David & the guys.

  14. Ahan… nice to hear… Microsoft step into Social Networking… It will be awesome if they merge it with SharePoint 2013.

  15. Pingback: Congratulations Yammer | Senexx

  16. Konstantin Boyandin says:

    I assume that’s a bright day for Yammer owners.
    However, I can also assume the Yammer, as I knew it, will change in a way I wouldn’t like, taking into account who’s the new owner.
    Anyway, good luck and thanks for many months of excellent service.

    • Mett Davis says:

      I’m hoping for the best, too, because I have seen this movie, before. We were really into Groove before Ray Ozzie (who originated Lotus Notes before he created Groove) …sold Groove to Microsoft and joined them as Chief Software Architect. Microsoft basically smothered Groove. Here’s a quote from http://bit.ly/MydflQ “Ozzie went on to form Groove. Microsoft bought it — and him — in 2005, and Ozzie took on Bill’s software design mantle in 2006. Groove was slapped onto the side of Office, and ultimately morphed into SharePoint Services, which hasn’t really emerged from the Office shadow.” I fear that the brilliant leadership and services we currently enjoy at Yammer may be suppressed over time by the perceived greater need of Microsoft to make Yammer “fit in” to Office. I can’t blame David, Adam et al for cashing in, but I hope they can maintain enough control over Yammer, moving forward, to continue exerting positive influence over its future…

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  18. Peter Brown says:

    Fantastic news for Yammer – congratulations you guys!

  19. Phil Ren says:

    Here is the congratulations from China counterpart. http://www.mingdao.com. It is a terrific news.
    I sent Yammer management team an invitation to our social enterprise event in Shanghai in August. We appreciate if someone from Yammer can pay the visit and share your visions and strategies after the deal.

    Yours sincerely.

    • Maria says:

      Thank you the congratulations and for sharing your event with us, Phil. It’s not very likely that we can attend in August, but I’ll pass this information to our team to see if anyone will be in the area during that time.

      Sincerely,

      - Maria

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  21. Patricia R White says:

    Well, that’s an unfortunate turn of events. We were all looking forward to what was to come from your plans in the near future, especially with workflow management. Once a Microsoft symbol enters our creative agency, it’s immediately marked as dumb, inefficient or made for people who don’t like to question good design. Try asking someone used to working with intuitive products to jump on a Powerpoint or Word document and watch what happens. We’re all very sad here.

    • Michael Clay says:

      Hope for the best, Patricia. It could have been Facebook. O_O

    • Maria says:

      Hello Patricia,

      I’d like to assure you that we are committed to maintaining our standalone service, and Microsoft has committed to maintaining Yammer’s brand, product, and business model.

      At the same time, our customers will benefit from the complementary strengths of the two companies. Because Yammer will be a part of the Office family, over time it will offer more and more connections to SharePoint, Office 365, Dynamics, and Skype.

      We hope that your experience with Yammer will continue to be stellar and become even better!

      - Maria

    • Bert says:

      This again? Sure, Microsoft has made some royal turds once in a while, but slamming on Powerpoint or Word? Seriously? It’s not the most intuitive software around, but they are among the most easy to use office products and a lot easier to use than for example something like Open Office. Products like this are pretty complex by default because they also quite a lot of features (most of them useful). Microsoft has several great UX and usability engineers, Bill Buxton being perhaps the most famous, so they are able to create good software that actually helps in the daily work. The difference between Office 2003 and Office 2007 for example is pretty big (the 2007 version being a lot better).

    • Chris Cygan says:

      Patricia,your comment and arguments are unfortunate too. Real creativity always get noticed by customers and office is used and appreciated by millions. So I would put your comment to the category *frustrated*

  22. Pingback: Analysis: Why Buying Yammer Makes Sense for Microsoft - Charlene Li, Founder of Altimeter Group, Author of Open Leadership, Coauthor of Groundswell

  23. Congratulations team! Yammer is critical infrastructure for us and I trust that Microsoft will be a good home for you.

    • Maria says:

      Thank you Floyd! We are really flattered to be a platform that our customers rely on, and thank you for your continued support.

      - Maria

  24. Mark Gardner says:

    I think any ambivalence here comes from concern over the strategy tax (Google it) that Microsoft will exact from the Yammer service. Care to address that in any way?

  25. Donna Beamish says:

    Congrats Yammer. Love using the platform. Hope it will be ‘free’. Still trying to convince the Board to run with social business but thankfully many employees have easily adopted the use of Yammer on their own steam.

  26. Mike Jessop says:

    Congrats guys,

    It’s been a long time coming.

    Simple innovation always gets valid recognition!

    Here’s to an incredible future!

    Mike

  27. Andrea Ralli says:

    Hi ! I am very happy for the news, I hope will be in touch much more now than other time !

    I´ll see you soon ! Andrea.

  28. Rafi says:

    I want to thank everyone at Yammer for their passion, hard work, commitment, and great execution. I am incredibly proud of what you’ve built. Thank you.

    • Maria says:

      Thank you for your kind words! In our very fast-moving world, it’s difficult to take the time and reflect on what’s been done, so thank you for taking the time to do that. A very special thanks to all of our customers, partners and supporters — without all of you, none of this would’ve been possible.

      - Maria

  29. David, congrats to you and the team.

    Stuart Crawford
    MSP Business Consultant
    Toronto, ON

  30. C says:

    What is the impact going to be in the near future on customers of both Yammer and Sharepoint? In particular, Yammer wants my money to upgrade to continue to administer groups. I plan to move them to Sharepoint in response. It would make things much easier if Sharepoint users automatically got premium Yammer services. It would also increase the combined value. Are there any plans to do this?

    • Maria says:

      Yammer will continue to offer a stand-alone social networking service. Customers who currently use Yammer and SharePoint, will continue to benefit from existing integrations.

      When the deal closes, customers will continue to benefit from the complementary strengths of the two companies. Because Yammer will be a part of the Office family, over time it will offer more and more connections to SharePoint, Office 365, Dynamics, and Skype. SharePoint will continue to offer social networking as a part of a full-featured collaboration suite. SharePoint 15 will include new social networking capabilities powered by Yammer.

      It’s important to underscore that Microsoft is committed to maintaining Yammer’s stand-alone product and freemium business model. Yammer will continue to deliver on its vision while building more connections to Microsoft products over time.

  31. Naum Chayer says:

    Congrats David and team!

  32. FK says:

    Conrgrats and think this is a grewat opprtunity for you and your clients. In our organization use of Yammer grew organically and now has become the defacto networking site. However we are tied by policy on sharing internal data information in a public or private cloud that is hosted externally. Are there now plans to provide an internally hosted within the enterprise?

    • Maria says:

      FK,

      Thanks for your comment. We do not currently have an on-premise solution, and do not plan to have one. I’m happy to put you in touch with someone who can talk to you about our security. Please email me at maria (at) yammer-inc (dot) com.

      -Maria

  33. Blanca Yanin says:

    Saludiitooos ;*

  34. Please give me a good reason to switch from Sharepoint, which we all use at Keynote, and my team finds very limited. Create a better file sharing system.

  35. Rick says:

    Wow! Congrats!

  36. Haseeb Munir says:

    Good to hear that . . . Congrats to the Team . . . .

  37. Nadeem Qaiser says:

    Congratulations to the all Yammer team

  38. Oliver says:

    Nice one, that is amazing! You must be so chuffed.

  39. Congradulations! Try to keep your tool simple and easy to use.

  40. Hasee says:

    Congratulations to David and the all the Yammer team members..

  41. remco iwema says:

    Congratulations! A great reward for all the fantastic work done so far.

  42. dodohee says:

    As expected, yammer stayed on focus, successful onedrum integration, better mobile client, these are leading factors to winning. Congratulations! Good job.

  43. David Claude says:

    Congrats to you and your team, David! Yammer was a great idea from the start and now, from a business perspective, it’s going to take a bold leap forward. I hope you get to keep your vision and expand collaboratively! :)

    • Maria says:

      Thank you, David! We are excited about the next chapter and are looking forward to executing even faster and bigger.

      - Maria

  44. Congratulations! Having just finished writing a book about Yammer — YAMMER STARTER GUIDE for Packt Publishing — I’ve been immersed in Yammer for the past few weeks. It’s a wonderfully useful adjunct for business (and we’ll continue using it in my company). The connection with Microsoft and Office makes a good thing better! So again congratulations and thanks also to the kindness shown to me by the Yammer folks while I was writing my Yammer book.

    –Ralph Roberts

  45. Tom Resing says:

    Congratulations! Can’t wait to see the integration with SharePoint. Love your product.

  46. Sergio Ramos says:

    Congratulations. I am a new user, so far, excellent. Hoping your vision of Yammer may survive.

    • Maria says:

      Thank you! Both companies are committed in investing in Yammer as a standalone product, supported by our culture and organizational structure, with an accelerated growth plan.

  47. This is great news congratulations

  48. Mahesh says:

    Wow!! congratulation to whole yammer team.. :)

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  50. Akim says:

    nyc listen this news ,congrats !

  51. congrats…….whole team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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