Microsoft has announced the acquisition of enterprise social media application company Yammer Inc. for $1.2 billion in cash. Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division and possibly spice up their current offerings to be more competitive with the likes of Salesforce.com -- in regards to their Chatter product. Microsoft plans to accelerate Yammer’s adoption alongside complementary offerings from Microsoft SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Skype.

Yammer Launched in 2008 and has more than 5 million corporate users, including employees at 85 percent of the Fortune 500. The service allows employees to join a secure, private social network for free and then makes it easy for companies to convert a grassroots movement into companywide strategic initiative. If you have never used Yammer before, the interface looks like a clone of the original Facebook.

Watch a video from Newsy on the Acquisition