Microsoft, today,
announced that it is acquiring LinkedIn, the social network for professionals
with 433 million users, for $26 billion, on $196 per share, in cash. The
transaction has already been approved by the boards of LinkedIn and Microsoft.
LinkedIn is keeping its
branding and product. It will become a part of Microsoft’s productivity and
business processes segment. LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner will report to Microsoft
CEO Satya Nadella. Read the letter Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent to employees
about the buy below:
Team,
I'm excited to share
that today Microsoft announced a deal to acquire LinkedIn. You can see how Jeff
Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, and I envision the opportunity ahead in this
public presentation.
This deal brings
together the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading
professional network. I have been learning about LinkedIn for some time while
also reflecting on how networks can truly differentiate cloud services. It's
clear to me that the LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business and an
impressive network of more than 433 million professionals.
Given this is the
biggest acquisition for Microsoft since I became CEO, I wanted to share with
you how I think about acquisitions overall. To start, I consider if an asset
will expand our opportunity — specifically, does it expand our total
addressable market? Is this asset riding secular usage and technology trends?
And does this asset align with our core business and overall sense of purpose?
The answer to all of
those questions with LinkedIn is squarely yes. We are in pursuit of a common
mission centered on empowering people and organizations. Along with the new
growth in our Office 365 commercial and Dynamics businesses this deal is key to
our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes. Think about
it: How people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done and
ultimately find success requires a connected professional world. It requires a
vibrant network that brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's
public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. This
combination will make it possible for new experiences such as a LinkedIn
newsfeed that serves up articles based on the project you are working on and
Office suggesting an expert to connect with via LinkedIn to help with a task
you're trying to complete. As these experiences get more intelligent and
delightful, the LinkedIn and Office 365 engagement will grow. And in turn, new
opportunities will be created for monetization through individual and
organization subscriptions and targeted advertising.
Jeff and I both believe
we have a significant opportunity to accelerate LinkedIn's growth and the value
it brings to its members with Microsoft's assets and scale. In fact, when Reid
Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, and I spoke about the opportunity for us to
come together, he called it a "re-founding" moment for LinkedIn and
an opportunity to reach the mission the company set out on 13 years ago.
The opportunity for
Office 365 and Dynamics is just as profound. Over the past decade we have moved
Office from a set of productivity tools to a cloud service across any platform
and device. This deal is the next step forward for Office 365 and Dynamics as
they connect to the world’s largest and most valuable professional network. In
essence, we can reinvent ways to make professionals more productive while at
the same time reinventing selling, marketing and talent management business processes.
I can't wait to see what our teams dream up when we can begin working together
once the deal closes, which we expect will happen this calendar year.
A big part of this deal
is accelerating LinkedIn's growth. To that end, LinkedIn will retain its distinct
brand and independence, as well as their culture which is very much aligned
with ours. Jeff will continue to be CEO of LinkedIn, he'll report to me and
join our senior leadership team. In essence, what I've asked Jeff to do is
manage LinkedIn with key performance metrics that accrue to our overall
success. He'll decide from there what makes sense to integrate and what does
not. We know that near term there will be no changes in who reports to whom so
no reporting relationships at Microsoft will change in that regard. This
approach is designed to keep the LinkedIn team focused on driving results while
simultaneously partnering on product integration plans with the Office 365 and
Dynamics teams. During the integration, we'll pick key projects where we can go
deep together that will ultimately result in new experiences for customers.
Kurt DelBene will lead the overall integration efforts at Microsoft in close
partnership with Qi Lu and Scott Guthrie.
I'm on the LinkedIn
campus today in California and will host a call for investors at 8:45 a.m.
PT with Jeff, Brad and Amy – please join if you can. Following that, I'll
then spend the day meeting with the LinkedIn team. Tomorrow, I'll host a
special Microsoft employee Q&A — I hope you can make it.
So far, what I've
learned about the LinkedIn team is how much our cultures share many of the same
attributes. We both care deeply about individual and collective growth, and
find deep meaning in the work we do to make a difference in our world. Together
we'll do just that.
While I'm in northern
California sharing our vision to empower professionals, the Xbox team is in
southern California at E3 sharing our vision to empower gamers. I encourage you
to check out the E3 press briefing, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Pacific
Time.
Finally, if you're not
on LinkedIn, join up now and start using and learning more.
Satya
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