Crowds at the opening of Microsoft's first Australian store in Westfield Sydney on Nov. 12, 2015. (Photo : Getty Images)
Online messaging platform Talko announced on Dec. 21 that the company was acquired by tech giant Microsoft. Talko technology, along with its key employees, will be rolled into Microsoft's own online messaging platform Skype.
Talko announced the acquisition on the company's official blog posting, "For all the value and enjoyment it's delivered, and for all the team's listening and perseverance, Talko was largely on the path to filling a (passionate) niche. We're in this to have great impact, so it's time for a change."
Talko's proprietary technology will be integrated into Microsoft's Skype and Skype for business communication platforms. However, Talko itself will be closed in March 2016.
Both Microsoft and Talko did not disclose the financial details of the deal.
Talko is a startup company headed by Ray Ozzie whose last company, Groove Networks, was acquired also by Microsoft in 2005. Just like Talko, Groove Networks provided productivity tools that were integrated into OneDrive and SharePoint.
The acquisition of Groove Networks gave Ozzie a seat on the board as one of Microsoft's chief technical officers. He was quickly promoted to chief software architect, a position he held until he left Microsoft in 2010 to create Talko.
According to Computer World, Ozzie will not rejoin Microsoft as part of the latest acquisition.
Microsoft has been busy acquiring startup companies since the start of the month. In fact, the Talko was acquired just four days after the Redmond-based company acquired analytics startup Metanautix. For this year, Microsoft made notable acquisitions like Sunrise Calendar and Wunderlist.
