Microsoft to acquire Visio for $1.3 billion

Microsoft Corporation announced today that it was seeking to purchase Visio Corporation, makers of the popular Visio technical drawing product, for $1.3 billion in stock. Microsoft will add Visio as a new product group operating under the business productivity unit, along with the Microsoft Office family of products. Visio CEO Jeremy Jaech will lead the division as a vice president reporting to Microsoft senior vice president Bog Muglia.

"Visio has been a pioneer in delivering unique diagramming solutions to business and enterprise customers and represents a strong addition to the Microsoft family of business products," Muglia said. "Together, Microsoft and Visio will bring visualization and diagramming software to a broader range of people and will improve the way knowledge workers present their ideas."

Visio, a long-time Microsoft partner, has been a poster child for the software giant for years: Visio was one of the first companies outside of Microsoft to adopt Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as a macro/scripting solution for its software, leading to many product demonstrations at Microsoft trade events