Microsoft-LinkedIn Merger - What You Need To Know About The Biggest Acquisition Of The Year
The entire tech and business world was taken by a huge storm when the news of Microsoft's proposed acquisition of LinkedIn broke out mid-June. The legendary software hot-shot has reported to acquire the biggest professional social networking platform for a magnum $26.2 billion and the acquisition is to be finalized by the end of this year. It's definitely the biggest deal for Microsoft ever.
So, what are the key points of the Microsoft-LinkedIn merger?
Microsoft would purchase LinkedIn for 196 USD per share. It's going to be a cash-all transaction.
The professional social networking site would retain its signature brand, culture as well as independence.
Jeff Weiner would continue to serve as the CEO of LinkedIn- it's only that he would have to report to Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO.
Plans of LinkedIn monetization.
Unanimous support from both sides
The historical deal has received unanimous support from both LinkedIn and Microsoft quarters as it is driven by the mission to empower people & make organizations more productive.
In the words of Nadella-"the deal marks the merger of our professional cloud with professional networking. Over time, we have shifted to our cloud services for any platform & device and the deal marks the very next step for our Office 365 & Dynamics as here we link them to the most valuable and largest professional network of the world, LinkedIn. I am confident, we would come up with great ways to help out the pros achieve more & better as we strive to reinvent the selling, marketing & talent management processes."
As part of the acquisition deal, LinkedIn data would feed Microsoft's Dynamics CRM whilst educational videos could be easily embedded into the Microsoft documents. The software giant can even attach the professional networking honcho as its API to its existent products.
"We had kind of similar mission statements", noted Jeff Weinar, the LinkedIn CEO.
"For us, it's to link the professionals all over to each other to ensure better productivity & success for both. For Microsoft, it's to empower all organizations and individuals worldwide to achieve better and more. In fact, we are both striving to achieve the same but approaching from two separate places- for us, it's through professional networking and for them, it's through professional cloud."
Benefits for both Microsoft & LinkedIn
Enhanced engagement across Office 365 & Dynamics and LinkedIn - Both the companies would be making more money through increased seamless access to one another's member/customer base, organizational & individual subscriptions & targeted advertising.
Bigger TAM - both the companies show huge market and an acquisition would mean a larger result.
More intelligent & productive experiences by bringing together world's leading professional network & professional cloud.
What the market has to say?
The pending acquisition, no wonder, has raised several speculations across the business and tech market. Some of the small business owners are hopeful that the software giant would utilize big data to generate a more powerful ad program that will assure a stronger voice for SMEs in the highly competitive ad zone.
On the other hand, according to some business pundits, since Microsoft has planned to speed-up LinkedIn monetization, it could mean a better market for LinkedIn competitor beBee. The Madrid-based professional social networking site has already pulled in 10 million+ users in the maiden year & its user base had doubled up within the last 6 months. The point to note here is that beBee's founder Mr. Javier Cãmara had publicly noted that the platform will always stay free for the users. It raises the obvious question - is Microsoft-LinkedIn merger making the right move with paid LinkedIn subscriptions? We all know freebies are always more attractive.
Regardless of what the future holds after the finalization of the deal, the immense influence of the pending acquisition could not be denied. According to Tim Walker of financial news site EconomicCalendar.com: Microsoft has agreed to pay $196 per share of the company, which represents a 50 percent premium to the stock's last recorded trading price on Friday as the market closed. In fact, as per the market report, LinkedIn shares have already leaped to over 47% than what those were 2 weeks back.
