The acquisition is structured as a stock purchase and is valued at approximately $1.1 billion. Each share of Great Plains common stock will be exchanged for 1.1 shares of Microsoft common stock. The transaction is subject to regulatory review.
In 19 years of operations Great Plains has proved to be one of Microsoft’s most innovative partners, said Steve Ballmer, president and CEO, Microsoft Corp. Microsoft and Great Plains see the future of business applications for small and medium-sized companies in the same way.
The combination of our two companies will accelerate small and medium business efficiency and agility by offering software solutions for automating interconnected business processes, added Jeff Raikes, group vice president of Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Services Group in a media statement. Together we will bridge the gap between on-premise software and next generation software and services.
This combination of Great Plains and Microsoft allows us to dramatically accelerate our vision of being the leader in providing interconnected business management solutions to small and mid-sized customers, while staying true to our mission of improving the lives and business success of our partners and customers, said Great Plains Chairman and CEO Doug Burgum.
Once the acquisition has been completed, Great Plains will become the Great Plains Division, reporting jointly to Raikes and David Vaskevitch, senior vice president of the Business Application Division at Microsoft.
