[disbelief]

I imagine a good chunk of that value is being placed on the team they acquired. They're a proven mobile dev shop with a well recognized name in an "up and coming" Berlin startup scene, who already have a major success under their belts. I'm also sure a sizeable percentage of the amount isn't cash but options with 2-4 year vesting periods. edit: also often the team salaries over the course of that period are included in the amount.

[SwellJoe]

$100 million is not a "buying it for the team" kind of price. This is a pretty small shop and you can hire a lot of top-notch developers for $100 million.

They've gotta be expecting some kind of value out of this. The theory that Microsoft is trying to buy their way into being relevant in the mobile market seems pretty sound, especially based on other announcements, investments and acquisitions they've made recently.

But, yeah, you're probably right about options being a big part of the price, but Microsoft options are still pretty valuable. Almost as good as real money.