Microsoft Says Buying GitHub For US$7.5bn

Computer giant Microsoft on Monday said it will buy software development platform GitHub, in a deal worth US$7.5 billion.

The tech giant, based in Washington state, said it "will acquire GitHub for US$7.5 billion in Microsoft stock."

Subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory review, the deal is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, Microsoft said in a statement on its website.

"GitHub will retain its developer-first ethos and will operate independently to provide an open platform for all developers in all industries," Microsoft said.

"Developers will continue to be able to use the programming languages, tools and operating systems of their choice for their projects - and will still be able to deploy their code to any operating system, any cloud and any device."

In April, Microsoft reported earnings were up 35 per cent to US$7.4 billion in the fiscal third quarter, with revenue rising 16 per cent to US$26.8 billion.

Earnings were lifted by gains in its core cloud computing operations for business. (AFP)