Microsoft Announces it will Acquire PlaceWare

PlaceWare, Inc. and Microsoft announced on January 21st that they have entered into an agreement whereby Microsoft will acquire PlaceWare, a provider of real-time Web conferencing services.

The terms of the agreement are not available, as PlaceWare is a privately held company. "This acquisition complements our business and is an important step forward in our strategy to expand our information worker solutions base. PlaceWare is a solid company and, with CEO George Garrick's leadership, has built a strong Web conferencing business. We look forward to merging our strengths to effectively deliver new real-time collaboration capabilities and solutions for this emerging and expanding online conferencing market," said Jeff Raikes, a Group Vice President of Productivity and Business Services at Microsoft, in a press release.

The transaction is expected to be concluded before the end of Q1 this year. Microsoft will reportedly incorporate PlaceWare into Microsoft's Information Worker Business unit. Microsoft also announced the creation of a new business group within the Information Worker Business unit, the Real Time Collaboration Group. This Group will be led by Bill Gates' current technical advisor, Anoop Gupta, and PlaceWare will become a part of the Real Time Collaboration Group.