Microsoft is looking forward to invest in Cyanogen, according to a latest report from The Wall Street Journal. Cyanogen which is the principal backer of the popular, open source CyanogenMod distribution of the Android operating system, which is used in the OnePlus One and YU Yureka smartphone.
The WSJ report said that Microsoft will invest roughly $70 million in Cyanogen . It will be buy a minority stake in the company which would then be valued in the “high hundreds of millions” of dollars. Microsoft’s has its own mobile operating system that competes directly with Android howerver,Windows Phone controls only 3 percent of the mobile market. The investment in Cyanogen might be a move from Microsoft to curb Android’s dominance.
Kirt McMaster, Cyanogen’s CEO, is on record saying recently that his company is going to “take Android away from Google.” He also had stated that more than 50 million people are using a build of Cyanogen version of Android. Meanwhile, Google’s Android is an open source project, but Google has limited what hardware makers can do with the OS. Both the companies have not yet commented on the prospective funding report fro WSJ.