Microsoft acquisition of GitHub set for EU approval

Microsofts planned acquisition of the privately held coding website GitHub is reportedly set to win unconditional approval from EU antitrust authorities.

According to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter, the European Commission will approve the $7.5bn (£5.7bn) acquisition, which was first announced back in June. The European Commission is set to announce its decision by 19 October.

If approved, the deal will be Microsofts largest acquisition since it bought LinkedIn for $26bn in 2016. The deal for GitHub is expected to dramatically boost Microsofts cloud computing capabilities and business, and enable it to once again challenge marketing leader Amazon.

Over 28m developers make use of GitHub, which is the worlds largest code host. If the acquisition is approved, it will become part of Microsofts Intelligent Cloud unit, but will continue to operate as an open platform available for all public clouds.

Microsofts CEO Satya Nadella has repeatedly assured users that a Microsoft-owned GitHub would not favour the companys products over competitors, something that the EU competition authorities will no doubt be looking for assurances of.