In the happening of the year, Microsoft is going to buy the professional networking website LinkedIn for just over $26 billion in cash. The software giant is paying $196 per share – a premium of almost 50% to Friday’s closing share price, BBC reported.
The deal is thought to help increase the sales of Microsoft’s business and email software. They have announced that LinkedIn will keep its “distinct brand, culture and independence”.
This will give Microsoft the access to LinkedIn’s 430 million users info, it is after all the world’s largest professional social network.
Head of research at the CCS Insight, Ben Wood call it “a valuable asset that can be deeply integrated with a number of Microsoft assets such as Office 365, Exchange and Outlook. That said, Microsoft has stated that the company will continue to operate as an independent business, so we’ll have to see how deeply the integration occurs”.
Microsoft had earlier purchased Nokia’s mobile phone business in 2013 for $7.2 billion, and Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion. With giants joining bigger giants, who knows what to expect.
