传言GITHUB正在寻求第二轮融资，或面临估值下降、清算或被微软收购

Github在去年7月刚刚完成了一轮2.5亿美元的融资。然而据TechCrunch报道，Github正在寻求第二轮融，或是为了投资者或员工的清算做准备。

此传言有两点，此轮融资可能低于之前的20亿美元的估值。消息来源方透露此轮估值可能在15亿美元左右，目前还不能透露具体数额。然而另外也有传闻称此轮融资或为普通股。所以这一轮的估值可能可能比较模糊，或者不是传统意义上的下一轮融资。

另外更有意义的传言是微软对Github非常感兴趣。我们不确定它是收购还是战略性投资，也有可能这是这两家公司在探讨更深层次的合作关系。GitHub声称，微软收购GitHub的传言不实，拒绝发表更多评论。微软也拒绝发表评论。

我们还不能确实谁会参与这一轮融资。但无论哪种方式，考虑到 GitHub 已成立8年，清算的话也并不另人吃惊。

原文：

We’re hearing from several sources that a secondary financing round is in the works for GitHub, following its last $250 million financing round that valued it at $2 billion in July last year. However, there’s a little bit of interesting chatter beyond that they’re raising a secondary for potential liquidation of investors or employees, we hear.

There are two parts to the story: first, this secondary round may value the company below the $2 billion valuation from its previous round. One source estimated the range could even be around $1.5 billion, though we couldn’t pin down the exact number. However, another source tells us that this secondary is likely for common stock, which could complicate the matter a bit. It’s hard to tell exactly where preferences lie and what rights investors got, so the valuation calculation can get a little fuzzy here — and it may not, in the end, technically be a down round in the traditional sense.

But perhaps the more interesting one is that a rumor is flying around that Microsoft is sniffing around the company. We aren’t sure if it’s related to an acquisition or potentially a strategic investment (talks around one may inevitably lead to the other), or it could be that the companies may be exploring a deeper partnership. A representative from GitHub said there’s no truth to the Microsoft acquisition rumors, though declined to comment on the rest of the story. A representative from Microsoft declined to comment.

We weren’t able to learn who would be able to participate in this secondary round — whether it would be investors or employees. But either way, given that GitHub is an eight-year-old company, the liquidation event shouldn’t be super surprising.