“Please, this is LinkedIn and not Facebook, post only professional stuff here!”…
This is LinkedIn, and unlike Facebook and Twitter, it doesn’t solely rely on advertising revenue, but a robust talent-solutions division (simply put, one that got your current employer to contact you) for revenue generation. And, although, it has gained and lost a lot of weight since debuting at $45 a share in 2011, an acquisition was in the offing given its current standing—the share has dropped from $269 in February 2015 to $131 on June 10, 2016.
Microsoft has a successful product in Office365, and FMI analysts see the LinkedIn acquisition as a long-term strategic move to give the world’s biggest software provide access to the world’s largest business social media platform and Lynda.com. “Restructuring is big on Satya Nadella’s mind and the LinkedIn acquisition is aimed at adding social media enterprise to the software company’s overall portfolio. The pre-trade rally in LinkedIn’s share price represents the sentiment on the deal”, said Essien Jae, senior analyst at FMI.
Microsoft announced that it will pay $196 per share in a deal valued at over $26 billion to acquire LinkedIn. The deal, biggest since Satya Nadella took over, will make LinkedIn a Microsoft entity; however, the former will retain its “distinct brand, culture, and independence”, Microsoft said in a blog.
This is not the first time that Microsoft has made a dash in the social media landscape—it spent over a billion dollars on enterprise social network Yammer in 2012; however, it failed to find favour among users. With LinkedIn, it can be a totally different ballgame, as it is a brand in itself. Microsoft can get the clients it’s looking for, and leverage on the user base for its wide range of enterprise tools. Microsoft is holding a conference call at 11:45 AM (ET), and it will be interesting to know if any insider details are divulged.
