Microsoft has finally confirmed that it has moved to acquire enterprise-oriented social networking company Yammer for $1.2 billion in cash. While the deal has been rumored for about two weeks and may have been complete in principle for just as long, this is the first public acknowledgement from either either company.
Sources familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal that Microsoft has agreed to acquire enterprise social networking company Yammer. The software giant is said to be purchasing Yammer for $1.2 billion, though the acquisition has yet to be completed and there is no information on when it will be announced. The Journal's confirmation comes a day after news of negotiations between the two companies first emerged.
Unknown software house Kootol on Friday sent notice to many companies claiming that they allegedly violate a messaging patent. It targets a wide swath of the industry that includes Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Foursquare, Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Twitter, and others all allegedly violate a patent for "Method and System for Communication, Advertising, Searching, Sharing and Dynamically Providing a Journal Feed." Unusually, Kootol doesn't actually have the patent and is instead acting on a Notice of Allowance that lets it act on the patent but still requires that it pay for the patent later.
