What’s the deal?

Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for a huge amount of $26.2 billion in cash. At present LinkedIn has more than 433 million members and about 105 million of those are active monthly users and 2 million are paid subscribers,

By buying LinkedIn, Microsoft gets on to the world’s leading professional network

 

Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn. LinkedIn had 45 billion page views in the last quarter, and more than 60 percent of its traffic is mobile.

For LinkedIn, the stock is in an unpleasant situation and analysts view the company at deadlock with slowing enterprise and online talent solutions growth and rising investment. Microsoft lacks much of a social media presence and would be attracted to LinkedIn’s database of business users

Why LinkedIn Selling Now?

When the CEO Microsoft first proposed the idea of acquiring LinkedIn he said that’s actually essential for both of them. First, the mission of Microsoft and LinkedIn is identical. For LinkedIn, it is trying to connect world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and for Microsoft it has to empower every individual and organization in the world to achieve more. That means if they join as one hand it will be a big hit.

Is this Good For Microsoft?

Microsoft has made a huge deal to put itself in the front of every business professional. This is a great business move ever taken by Microsoft.

they are taking on a company which is all rounder  in B2B social networking and has an embedded database of over 433 million global business professionals. The merging of Microsoft’s and LinkedIn’s graphs show the complementary nature of this deal, which Microsoft says will create more connected, intelligent and productive experiences.

LinkedIn is essentially (1) recruiting platform for HR professionals (2) a sales prospecting tool for enterprise sales reps (3) a place to publish your resume online (4) a place to upload Slide Shares and blog posts (5) a mediocre ad network

Is This Good For LinkedIn?

LinkedIn will get several opportunities to by creating a unified professional profile, an “intelligent” news feed to keep members connected. This is definitely a boon for LinkedIn because Microsoft can help grow LinkedIn faster. LinkedIn can retain its brand, culture and independence.

This merger cements LinkedIn as a leader in services and products in the business networking space.

Many social networks have tried and are trying to beat LinkedIn. Facebook itself is a perfect example. LinkedIn is still the world’s greatest selling.

How Could This Acquisition Impact on Digital Marketers?

The togetherness of Microsoft and LinkedIn’s network will create opportunities for companies and marketers on several levels. For LinkedIn marketers, this could mean amazing opportunities to reach and engage your target audience.

Marketing, advertising, and sales relationship development can occur now across all Microsoft products potentially – Outlook, Calendar, Active Directory, Office, Windows, Skype, Dynamics, Cortana and Bing. Through this expansion the marketers can reach certainly a high volume of customers (over 1 billion Microsoft users across all products) at every point of customer communication and business action.