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.
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.
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
centred 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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