Microsoft buys code-sharing site Github for $7.5bn

Microsoft has announced it's paying US$7.5bn in stock for the popular coder hangout GitHub.

GitHub is a platform where software developers can go to host and review each other's code.

The San Francisco startup was founded in 2008 and has grown sharply since announcing its first outside investment in 2012.

It now counts about 27 million software developers around the world who use its platform to share code and build businesses.

It's free to use GitHub for open-source projects, but some developers and businesses pay a monthly fee to access private code repositories and other services.

"Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation,” Microsoft's chief executive Satya Nadella said in a statement.

"We recognise the community responsibility we take on with this agreement and will do our best work to empower every developer to build, innovate and solve the world's most pressing challenge."

GitHub’s current CEO, Chris Wanstrath, said he "can’t wait to see what lies ahead" with Microsoft.

"Their focus on developers lines up perfectly with our own, and their scale, tools and global cloud will play a huge role in making GitHub even more valuable for developers everywhere.”

Microsoft said it expects the deal to close by year-end.

With AP