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Microsoft Set To Win EU Approval for LinkedIn Buy (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the all-good dept.

Microsoft is set to gain EU approval for its $26 billion buy of professional social network LinkedIn with tweaks to concessions aimed at addressing competition concerns, three people close to the matter said on Wednesday. From a report on Reuters: Microsoft last week told the European Commission that it would still allow LinkedIn's rivals access to its software such as its Outlook program and give hardware makers the option of installing competing professional social networks on computers after the acquisition. The second plank of the concession is important because of the company's battle with the EU competition authority over the last decade and the policy of tying its products to block rivals, resulting in fines of more than 2.2 billion euros.

13 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. commence deleting LinkedIn account by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    commence deleting LinkedIn account

    1. Re:commence deleting LinkedIn account by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Why would you have one in the first place?

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:commence deleting LinkedIn account by Geek_Cop · · Score: 1

      I've been directly hired off of LinkedIn, twice. The second was only $119,000 per year starting but was good enough for me....3 years later it still has paid off.

    3. Re:commence deleting LinkedIn account by hughbar · · Score: 1

      Well done. I did that on the first day of the Microsoft announcement. Do some fun math (maths if you're a Brit, I am), it will cost Microsoft $26 billion and, if everyone deletes their account, it wil be worth nothing, nada, zilch. Even a partial decline change its (highly inflated) value.

      --
      On y va, qui mal y pense!
  2. Another one bites the dust by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hotmail, Skype and now LinkedIn.

    Anyone care to update this list?

    1. Re:Another one bites the dust by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So. Many. Things.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      It's hard to remember when things like VIsio weren't Microsoft-based

    2. Re: Another one bites the dust by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      About 15 minutes after Visio 2K came out, would be my guess.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  3. WTF does this sentence even mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    and give hardware makers the option of installing competing professional social networks on computers

    How do you install a professional social network on a computer?

    1. Re:WTF does this sentence even mean? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      That's what happens when you have a glorified international bureaucracy like the EU making up the rules

  4. I really hope they get approval... by c · · Score: 2

    ... sort of like how I hope that two people I dislike will meet, fall in love, then have a long dysfunctional life together that they can't break out of.

    --
    Log in or piss off.
  5. I hope this fails by The_Revelation · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I understand that clauses like "It would still allow LinkedIn's rivals access to its software such as its Outlook program and give hardware makers the option of installing competing professional social networks on computers". I mean, technically you CAN use Google's Search Engine with Microsoft Windows 10. But at the same time, you need to install a non-MS browser, and even then, if you use Cortana, there is no way for you, as an Enterprise Administrator, to uninstall Microsoft's Pornographic Search Engine: BING. I for one will be closing my LinkedIn account and escape the Microsoft lock in which has traditionally been one of the primary selling points of using Linked In.

  6. competition concern by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

    Off course, competition concerns are very important. Privacy concerns, however, are not a concern at all, not even in Europe. No matter how many privacy laws there are.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  7. Are there any alternatives by Progman3K · · Score: 1

    Are there any worthy alternatives to sites like LinkedIn?

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    I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J