The deal is a way for Microsoft, which largely missed out on the consumer Web boom dominated by the likes of Google and Facebook Inc., to sprint ahead in social tools – in this case, for professionals.
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“This is an opportunity for us to truly change the way the world works on a massive scale”, Weiner wrote.
LinkedIn, which enables members to connect with similar-minded professionals and facilitates job hunting, has some 433 million members worldwide.
He acknowledged that the answer to all of those questions with LinkedIn is squarely yes.
Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, believes that this deal will be beneficial for both companies. “Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organisation on the planet”. Shares of LinkedIn surged 48% to $194.51 in pre-market trading on Monday, while shares of Microsoft fell 3%. And in turn, new opportunities will be created for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted advertising. The multinational American technology company has been trying its best to revitalise itself through the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella. It can bring a lot of value to its members with Microsoft’s assets and scale. The boards of both companies have already signed off on the deal, and Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn’s chairman, has backed it.
LinkedIn can be considered a social networking service, much like Facebook and Snapchat, but it differs since it follows a professional theme.
This is indeed a good step forward for the company, and it is being anticipated that Microsoft will soon start pushing their premium business features with LinkedIn in the days to follow. The sale terms allow LinkedIn to retain its distinct brand, culture and independence.
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During the integration, Microsoft will pick key projects where they can go deep together that will ultimately result in new experiences for customers. In 2012, Microsoft bought workplace chat service Yammer Inc. for $1.2 billion, but has seen rival products, such as Slack, gain momentum. $26.2 billion is almost 25% of their cash balance, so I think they will finance this deal partly by issuing debt as Bloomberg claims.
