Microsoft’s seven biggest deals chart its expansion into gaming, cloud and hardware
A review lists Microsoft’s seven largest acquisitions—from Activision Blizzard to Nokia’s phone unit—detailing announced prices, closing dates and the assets each purchase added.
Microsoft’s acquisition history is illustrated through seven marquee deals that span more than a decade. The largest, a $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard announced in January 2022, closed in October 2023 after the FTC, European Commission and UK regulator cleared the transaction with concessions on cloud-gaming rights. The $26.2 billion cash buy of LinkedIn and the $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications, a speech-recognition firm focused on healthcare, followed in 2022 and 2021 respectively.
Earlier deals include the $8.5 billion purchase of Skype in 2011, the $7.5 billion stock deal for GitHub in 2018, the $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media (owner of Bethesda Softworks) in 2020, and the €5.44 billion purchase of Nokia’s devices and services business in 2013-14. The summary notes the announced prices, closing dates and the specific products or services each company contributed to Microsoft’s broader strategy in gaming, professional networking, cloud, developer tools and mobile hardware.
Why it matters
These deals show how Microsoft has diversified beyond Windows and Office into gaming, cloud services, and hardware.
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