Microsoft Closes Acquisition of LinkedIn Deal, valued at roughly $26 billion, is biggest in tech company’s history.
Microsoft Corp. closed its roughly $26 billion deal to buy professional-networking site LinkedIn, cementing the largest acquisition in the tech giant’s history.
The marriage of the two firms, announced in June, is a bet that the social network can reinvigorate Microsoft’s software offerings despite recent struggles by both companies. The closure of the deal was announced by Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella in a LinkedIn post.
Mr. Nadella hopes the deal will open new horizons for Microsoft’s Office suite as well as LinkedIn, both of which have saturated their markets, and bolster Microsoft’s revenue and competitive position. Microsoft said it would work on integrating LinkedIn into some of its key offerings, such as adding aspects of the LinkedIn network to Microsoft Outlook and the Office suite, which includes Word and PowerPoint.
LinkedIn Chief Executive Jeff Weiner will retain his role. The companies had expected the deal to close by the end of 2016. Microsoft’s stock edged down 0.1% to $61.32 in morning trading.
The fact that these concessions had to be made speaks a little to what Microsoft’s intentions might be with LinkedIn. It seems like one key area for Microsoft will be to upsell those using LinkedIn to recruit, to then buy into Microsoft’s software in areas like HR and sales to extend that functionality.
Joseph Hincks wrote at Fortune about this deal "This Is What LinkedIn Employees Consider Their ‘Most Prized Benefit’"
Microsoft has up to now not really been a significant player in open-ended social networking, although with products like Yammer and Skype it’s clearly put a lot of investment into the kinds of collaboration products that are in demand from enterprises and business users today. It will be interesting to see how and if it tries to marry these two sides of enterprise-focused social networking down the line.
Microsoft Corp. closed its roughly $26 billion deal to buy professional-networking site LinkedIn, cementing the largest acquisition in the tech giant’s history.
The marriage of the two firms, announced in June, is a bet that the social network can reinvigorate Microsoft’s software offerings despite recent struggles by both companies. The closure of the deal was announced by Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella in a LinkedIn post.
TechCrunch Wrote About Nadella "Nadella took over Microsoft in the midst of a transition, and Microsoft is still somewhat in that transition. Its mobile bet didn’t play out and it’s started to refocus its resources to other parts of the business, and while all these bets still seem to be in their early stages, the arrow seems to point upwards. But like any company (even Google), these bets are going to take a while to play out. In reality, Microsoft’s revenue growth hasn’t really been all that impressive."
Mr. Nadella hopes the deal will open new horizons for Microsoft’s Office suite as well as LinkedIn, both of which have saturated their markets, and bolster Microsoft’s revenue and competitive position. Microsoft said it would work on integrating LinkedIn into some of its key offerings, such as adding aspects of the LinkedIn network to Microsoft Outlook and the Office suite, which includes Word and PowerPoint.
LinkedIn Chief Executive Jeff Weiner will retain his role. The companies had expected the deal to close by the end of 2016. Microsoft’s stock edged down 0.1% to $61.32 in morning trading.
The fact that these concessions had to be made speaks a little to what Microsoft’s intentions might be with LinkedIn. It seems like one key area for Microsoft will be to upsell those using LinkedIn to recruit, to then buy into Microsoft’s software in areas like HR and sales to extend that functionality.
Joseph Hincks wrote at Fortune about this deal "This Is What LinkedIn Employees Consider Their ‘Most Prized Benefit’"
Microsoft has up to now not really been a significant player in open-ended social networking, although with products like Yammer and Skype it’s clearly put a lot of investment into the kinds of collaboration products that are in demand from enterprises and business users today. It will be interesting to see how and if it tries to marry these two sides of enterprise-focused social networking down the line.
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