Microsoft to buy Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5 billion

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Microsoft Corp has agreed to acquire the Stockholm-based developer of the wildly popular Minecraft video game for $2.5 billion, as it tries to lure a new and mostly young audience into its mobile world. Minecraft - a construction game in which players can build nearly anything imaginable, block by block, in a digital, Lego-like world - has spread like wildfire since its full release by developer Mojang in 2011. Minecraft is the top paid-for app both on Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android systems and helped Mojang, which employs just 40 people, bring in 2.05 billion crowns ($287 million) in revenue in 2013, giving it an 896 million crown ($126 million) operating profit for the year. Director of website Gamesbrief Nicholas Lovell described Minecraft as a hugely successful product which has "captured the imagination of pretty much everybody under the age of 15", saying the game could help Microsoft broaden its appeal.