GitHub will be folded into Microsoft proper as CEO steps down

Microsoft has owned GitHub since 2018, but the widely used developer platform has operated with at least a little independence from the rest of the company, with its own separate CEO and other executives. But it looks like GitHub will be more fully folded into Microsoft's organizational chart starting next year—GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke announced today that he would be leaving GitHub and Microsoft "to become a founder again."

"GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organization, with more details shared soon," Dohmke wrote. "I’ll be staying through the end of 2025 to help guide the transition and am leaving with a deep sense of pride in everything we’ve built as a remote-first organization spread around the world."

Axios reports that Microsoft isn't directly replacing Dohmke, and GitHub's leadership team will be reporting to multiple executives in the CoreAI division.

Dohmke was GitHub’s second CEO under Microsoft and had occupied the position since late 2021, when former CEO Nat Friedman left the company. Dohmke had previously been GitHub’s chief product officer.

Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion in 2018. As of this writing it's the company's sixth-most-expensive acquisition, before you adjust for inflation—more than the roughly $7.2 billion it paid to buy Nokia's hardware division in 2013, but less than it paid for Skype in 2011 ($8.5 billion, shuttered earlier this year) or video game company ZeniMax Media in 2020 ($8.1 billion, hit by multiple rounds of gaming-related layoffs in 2024 and 2025).