Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Is Buying LinkedIn For $26.2 Billion (microsoft.com)
Microsoft on Monday announced it is acquiring LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, for a whopping sum of $26 billion -- or $196 per share, in cash. The transactions, the companies say, has already been approved by both boards. As part of the agreement, LinkedIn will get to keep its branding, and will become part of Microsoft's productivity and business processes segment. Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn, and now report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. In a statement, Nadella said: The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals. Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet.LinkedIn has over 430M members on its network. LinkedIn's purchase marks Microsoft's 196th acquisition of another company -- it is incidentally also its most expensive purchase. Four years ago, Weiner laughed at the idea of a Microsoft buyout. Update: 06/13 13:31 GMT by M :According to Bloomberg, LinkedIn shares surged 49 percent in premarket trading in New York to $194.63. Microsoft fell 3.7 percent to $49.60.
Seriously. Whatever M$ has ever touched, turned to manure in short order. Think Skype et al.
On the other hand, as M$ is actually one of the less creepy tech companies out there these days (with Linkedin being very near the top), this might actually end up *improving* the business ethics of Linkedin. :)
it will become LinkedOut.
I can just imagine how Microsoft will use this together with all the "telemetry" obtained via windows 10, swiftkey, code compiled with VS2015, skype conversations, office 360 documents, etc.
So, I did the only sensible thing, and have just deleted my linkedin profile, as I had done at the acquisition time with swiftkey. Bye bye samaritan, you will probably still get my data but will have to try harder...
I'm hoping I'm wrong but every recent major acquisition by MS has been followed by a huge thud. But maybe MS will leave it as is and not screw it up.
Microsoft buys yet another Internet giant.
Excuse me, I have to go delete my LinkedIn account now.
Sure, Microsoft hasn't displayed any competence when it comes to creating or running a social media site, so what's the purpose behind buying LinkedIn?
The data? The technology (wtf)? What's the move here, because I'm not seeing it. There's no obvious tie-in to the x-box. There's nothing to integrate into their OS or Office. Skype is dying on the vine -- and again, what's there to integrate into the existing software? Autopopulate a post to the professional dude-bro's hangout? What sense does that make?
The problem is the price...$26 billion all cash deal!!!
If i were dabbling in stocks i would short MSFT immediately. This is stupider than their NOKIA acquisition. Most of these companies are run by mediocre people with no imagination and too much money.
Tat Tvam Asi
LinkedIn is a frigging joke. Maybe the intial idea was okay, but then they let any random idiot "endorse" you for skills. When I started seeing my connections endorsing me for skills they did not know I possessed I realized that I could no longer trust any endorsements for people I did not know.
Now I just use LinkedIn to see what people look like, nothing else.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
The good thing about buying LinkedIn is you don't need to ask them to transfer any their user database over to you - you can just go download the torrent!
60 bucks per user? Speaking in a purely personal capacity, that's way over the odds.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Microsoft may as well have burned their $26b cash to keep some homeless people warm. It would've been a better use than to buy LinkedIn.
> Less creepy? Try windows 10.
Just try DECLINING Windows 10. What MS does then is creepy.
Okay, so the Windows 10 telemetry is creepy too.
It might be time to close my LinkedIn account and get the flock outta there. I've pretty much avoided social networking - no Facebook, no Twitter, etc. - but LinkedIn seemed to be almost a necessity for job hunting. But I read recently that I'm already out of contention for most jobs anyway, because I'm not on FB, and because my online presence is mostly pseudonymous, which means it doesn't exist as far as most prospective employers are concerned. Apparently that's a real red flag for HR types. So I guess I'm hooped anyway, and dumping LinkedIn won't significantly hinder my already dismal job prospects.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Those whopping numbers show one thing: how desperate capitalism is.
Non sequiturs make me eat lampshades.
Lets guess: When you create an MS account, you are also included in the LinkedIn user catalogue. In due time, when you want to edit your profile, anything but basic edits will require an Office 365 subscription.
In the Dynamics suite, it is not only about Employee Master, Customer Master, but also about the Organization domain: You will need to model your organization in a way accessible to LinkedIn, and instances of today's Dynamics suite will benefit from being able to do B2B better by getting direct access to the org structures, and signature rights, of people also in your business partner companies.
Also, as Skype is not on the way up in hype, one also procures a user base for Skype.
And, how will this work with Microsofts extensive 3rd-party strategy: I assume that to work with 'higher tier' 3rd parties, you need LinkedIn profiles for remote access. Furthermore, 3rd parties will be able to purchase access to organizational structures in LinkedIn.
All in all, some parts are actually of benefit to corporations. However, this is also a way of getting organizations onto the higher end of the Microsoft agreement scale: Expensive, not necessary, but does allower less competent persons to administer large amount of users.
This is not about technology. This is a quite clever ecosystem move, an art many of today's players seem to have forgotten. Imagine some next steps: Product promotion, sales, information from Dynamics instances, across the ecosystem enabled by the mesh of business users actually on LinkedIn. Microsoft does need to counter FB, Apple, Samsung, Sony and Ali, whom by them targetting B2C users is building a platform for going for the lucrative B2B.
Signed, Lars Bratthall.
Microsoft's old business model doesn't work anymore... when that happens staying still === death, and trying new things costs money... however being Microsoft they have masses of capital to burn, so everything is worth the risk, so they do that (they try everything) this seems to have been their business strategy for the past decade... everything is worth the risk, they are basically too big to fail provided they keep trying things. It's almost like the random mutation component of evolution.
The massive downside to this unfocused approach is that they appear to be flippant, inconsistent and undedicated to anything new they do. So even setting aside the many other issues people have against Microsoft such as undertones of malice and exploitation towards users, world domination etc, it makes their products seem even more undesirable.
.
The amount of data that Microsoft has purchased, and will be able to harvest on a continual basis, has just increased by orders of magnitude.
.
Data harvesting appears to be Microsoft's new strategic focus.
Don't be so negative. That's what people said about Tumblr when Yahoo bought them, and yet, see how it became even more popular and how that acquisition was the catalyst for Yahoo's revival under the competent leadership of Marissa Mayer?
lucm, indeed.
It just popped up, "All the information in this computer is scheduled to be posted to LinkedIn in 10 minutes" and there were just two buttons "Do it now" and "Spam all email addresses in this machine beseeching them to join LinkedIn with more dire warnings".
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
When trying to download my data from LinkedIn now I get "Maximum Transaction Time exceeded".
I can imagine that there's a crapload of people trying to bail out now!
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Clippy joining forces with linkedin ?
FUCK NOPE!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Of course, the W10 telemetry is seriously nosey. But as this is M$ we are talking about, I ultimately cannot see them doing much useful with it.
It's not what Microsoft willingly does with the telemetry data as much as what third parties can compel MIcrosoft to do with it. For example, even basic telemetry collects a list of applications and device drivers on a system, as well as the IMEI of any connected air card. I can think of cases where the list of apps and drivers may be evidence against a user in a civil or criminal case alleging copyright infringement or circumvention of digital restrictions management.
That little bastard Clippy...better not "fix" my resume.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
I am shocked by all of the negative comments here. This was a great purchase by MS and I'm surprised they didn't jump sooner. Microsoft makes a huge chunk of its revenue from office workers. LinkedIn is the social graph of office workers. The two are a perfect fit with each other.
Imagine office integration where you can easily share documents, send messages, and video conference among LinkedIn contacts. That's just the beginning, with a bit more work on the LinkedIn side, the social graph on LinkedIn could easily translate to the company's entire intranet, a public/private social network amalgam. Hope that MS is thinking this big.
Fast Federal Court and I.T.C. updates
If you want a professional presence that makes a difference, get active on github and post examples of your work: products, projects, utilities, documents, etc. Contribute to an open project there, even if it's just to clean up documentation (or add docs or howtos).
Constructive examples of your work will say more about you to prospective employers than a LinkedIn e-resume ever could.
"What's the move here, because I'm not seeing it." I agree. Also, it seems that Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella doesn't see it, either:
...while simultaneously partnering on product integration plans with the Office 365 and
Dynamics teams." So, the LinkedIn team will "focus" on
two things at the same time? How will job-getting be "integrated" with typing a document? Will Clippy jump up and say, "That's boring! Wouldn't you like a better job?"
Quotes from Satya Nadella:
"I have been learning about LinkedIn for some time..." That's not the sort of thing to say about a $26.2 billion purchase. He learned for "some time"? No one else was involved? There was no detailed examination by many managers?
Corporate jargon: [I have been] "also reflecting on how networks can truly differentiate cloud services."
Corporate jargon: "I consider if an asset will expand our opportunity -- specifically, does it expand our total addressable market?" What is the difference between a market and an "addressable market"?
"Is this asset riding secular usage and technology trends?" What?? I wondered if I understood the meaning of the word "secular". I did. It means "denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis". I can certainly agree that Microsoft is not religious or spiritual. Satya Nadella wants Microsoft to "ride trends".
CREEPY: "...vibrant network that brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's public network with the information in Office 365..." Wow! Microsoft will be watching what you type?
VERY CREEPY: "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."
SCARY: "...new opportunities will be created for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted advertising." To me, that means that I should create an even greater distance between myself and Microsoft. I don't want to be "monetized".
RENT ONLY? "...we have moved Office from a set of productivity tools to a cloud service across any platform and device." Translation: We don't want you to be able to buy our software. We make more money if you rent it.
"... we can reinvent ways to make professionals more productive" They are already invented, but you will re-invent them?
"reinventing selling, marketing and talent management business processes" Satya Nadella, why do you make wild statements with no specific meaning? (Also, no Oxford comma.)
"I can't wait to see what our teams dream up..." Translation: At present, he has NO idea what Microsoft will do. He will wait to see. Dreaming.
"A big part of this deal is accelerating LinkedIn's growth." Perhaps LinkedIn is at the END of its growth.
Corporate jargon: "...keep the LinkedIn team focused on driving results..."
"
"... we'll pick key projects where we can go deep together that will ultimately result in new experiences for customers." Apparent translation: We have NO idea at present what we will do.
Corporate jargon: "... sharing our vision to empower professionals".
My opinion: Satya Nadella, what you said above indicates you are not able to manage a company. Apparently you were chosen to be CEO because you were the least annoying candidate. The fact that you were chosen indicates that the Microsoft Board of Directors is not competent.
Has Xbox won a generation yet? The PlayStation 2 soundly beat the original Xbox, and the underpowered Wii beat the more powerful Xbox 360 in all regions. Early Xbox One sales were marred by loss of goodwill from #dealwithit, and the PlayStation 4 is reportedly beating its competition nearly two to "One" after two years.
I am so grateful that I never created a LinkedIn account. I receive requests from people everyday to link in to their profiles, but since I have no social media accounts I've declined getting Linked In. But recently I've been thinking that maybe I should at least have a LinkedIn account for networking. Thank goodness I dodged that bullet.
Clippy is a joke in part because it was annoying, but moreso in how it was actually pretty condescending in many ways toward the user.
The described use case can strike people in the same way. Auto-suggesting guys on linked in who claim to have experience with what you are trying to do? It seems a bit silly in the same way that clippy's 'suggestions' were silly at the time, all while being condescending (unintentionally). You seem to be trying to project manage this... poorly, here's a guy who would be better than you...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.