This is a big deal that is about to be closed. Microsoft is planning to buy LinkedIn in a USD 26.2 billion deal.
According to sources at Bloomberg, “Microsoft will pay $196 per share in an all-cash transaction, including LinkedIn’s net cash, a 49.5 percent premium to LinkedIn’s closing price Friday. LinkedIn will retain its brand, culture and independence and Jeff Weiner will remain chief executive officer of the company, Microsoft said in a statement Monday. The offer values LinkedIn about 91 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.”
This will be the biggest acquisition to be carried out by Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO since he took office in 2014. Satya has been restructuring Microsoft since he came in, cutting over 18,000 jobs globally.
The acquisition of LinkedIn will give Microsoft a treasure trove and access to the world’s largest network of professionals, job seekers and organisations who rely on LinkedIn for job search and recruitment purposes. It also a big deal for Microsoft as its share of the cloud storage business is growing too slow compared to Google and Dropbox. Office 365, the company’s cloud productivity suite would be leveraging the platform to either sell as a bundle or as a value added service to Microsoft customers already on LinkedIn.
As soon as the deal is finally consummated, Microsoft will be joining the league of tech giants with a viable social networking platform in their holding. LinkedIn is currently valued at USD11 billion, Microsoft is more or less paying double the value of social network if the deal is closed at its asking price.
LinkedIn [LNKD:US] is listed on NASDAQ. The company’s shares has risen by about 50% since the announcement of the deal.
Disclaimer
The content on this site, including news, quotes, data and other information, is sourced by PageOne from official and public sources and other third party content providers for your personal information only, and is not intended for trading purposes. Content on this site is not appropriate for the purposes of making a decision to carry out a transaction or trade. Nor does it provide any form of advice (investment, tax, legal) amounting to investment advice, or make any recommendations regarding particular financial instruments, investments or products.
