Earlier this month Microsoft bought GitHub for a mighty $7.5 billion. Just ahead of the acquisition, rumours were floating around that Google was the one interested in snapping up GitHub, even though an offer never materialised.

Now though, it appears that Google was indeed eyeing up GitHub and one company executive is slightly miffed that the search giant missed out. As reported by Bloomberg, speaking at a Fortune Magazine event, Google’s head of cloud Diane Greene admitted that «I wouldn’t have minded buying them, but it’s okay».

While not the salacious grovelling details you’d probably have liked to hear from a Google executive over missing out on the deal, any acknowledgement of it is interesting enough. Greene also expressed concerns about Microsoft taking control of GitHub, echoing those of many in the development community. «I really hope Microsoft can keep them totally neutral», she said, though Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has stressed his commitment to «developer freedom, openness and innovation».

Developers reacted to the news that Microsoft was to own the site by pronouncing the site’s death, with many upping sticks for rivals like GitLab and BitBucket.

But many also stayed, and under Nadella Microsoft has embraced open source software like longtime operating system rival Linux and the CEO has vowed that GitHub will «retain its developer-first ethos».

It;s not the first time Google and Microsoft have reportedly been interested in the same target. Before Microsoft bought LinkedIn back in 2016, four suitors were involved in a furious bidding war for the social network platform. One of those was Microsoft, but another was Google, according to Re/code, which named another as Facebook.

Picture: Bigstock

Microsoft is now more valuable than Google and its listed parent company, Alphabet. For the first time since 2015, the Redmond-based technology company overtook the behemoth that is Google to become the third most valuable company in the world.

Valued at $753 billion (£566 billion), Microsoft sits just ahead of Alphabet’s $739 billion (£556 billion) valuation. Microsoft and Google have been trading places on the rankings since Google first surpassed the company in 2012. However, with this decisive gain, it shows that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has really managed to change the company’s image and turn its fortunes around.

Since taking over four years ago, Nadella has helped more than double Microsoft’s stock price, and the business has gone from being a 40-plus-year-old company to a modern tech icon. By focusing Microsoft into product categories like AI and cloud computing, while simultaneously axing failing divisions like the Windows Phone, Microsoft has successfully modernised. The latest ranking shift just goes to show these rather drastic methods of moving away from Windows as its core product have clearly worked.

Microsoft is also hot on the heels of Amazon, the second largest company in the world – sitting at $782 billion (£588 billion). At the top of the pack is Apple – which, with a market valuation of $923 billion (£694 billion), isn’t going anywhere soon. Interestingly, though, Microsoft arguably has a larger portfolio than Apple and that could well be used to its advantage. As The Verge points out, Google generates around 90% of its revenue directly from advertising, and 60% of Apple’s entire revenue is also attributable to iPhone sales which could see billions wiped from its valuation if sales slow.

Microsoft, however, has grown much of its business through hardware, software and services. In its latest earnings report, Microsoft’s Windows, Surface and Xbox divisions chalked up to around 35% of its revenue. Cloud services clocked in at around 30% and Office and productivity solutions at another 30%.

So where next for Microsoft? Morgan Stanley believes that Microsoft will be one of the first companies out there to hit a $1 trillion valuation within the space of a year thanks to the growth of cloud services. If this is the case, Apple certainly has something to be worried about.

Picture: Bigstock