The IT group buys the professional social network for $ 26.2 billion. Le Figaro looks at the reasons for the transaction record.
This is one of the biggest takeovers ever seen in the world of new technologies. On Monday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of LinkedIn for $ 26.2 billion. Created in 2003, it is a social network for professionals. CV can accommodate it, contact recruiters or potential candidates or even publish blog posts. This acquisition may be surprising at first. Microsoft is almost not present in the social media sector, if not with Yammer, purchased in 2012. LinkedIn could yet be a good partner for the IT group.
● LinkedIn and Microsoft serve the same public: professionals
Microsoft is a regular at the business community, that team of software and data storage solution. But he took the full brunt of the wave of mobile and quick to adapt its products to new practices of its customers. Microsoft has tried to catch up by launching its own smartphones and mobile operating system. This was done at great expense, including through the acquisition of the mobile division of the Finnish manufacturer Nokia, for 5.4 billion euros. He also adapted his most iconic software for mobile, but reserving for its own ecosystem. The arrival of Satya Nadella to head Microsoft in 2014 marked the end of the strategy in isolation. One of his first acts has been to open Office 365, the mobile version of the popular office suite, for Android and iOS mobile operating systems from Apple and Google. Office 365 has 22 million paying subscribers. Satya Nadella also arrested the costs in the production of smartphones, dismissing almost all of former Nokia employees. Only activities in professional mobile escaped the cut. Finally, Microsoft CEO has placed the “cloud” services and data hosted online, as the main axis of development. The company has improved its offers for professionals. We lent him in 2015 repurchase intentions Salesforce, a specialist IT services in the cloud. It’s finally joined LinkedIn which his immense galaxy.
● LinkedIn has accurate data about the companies and its employees
Since 2003, LinkedIn harvest a wealth of information on professional of the whole world. He knows the CV of its 433 million members, but also their workplace, their past, their boss, their employees, universities where they studied, etc. For Microsoft, this data is extremely valuable. They open the way for him to millions of businesses worldwide, as many potential customers for services like Azure (the solution for analysis and storage in the cloud for businesses) or Office 365. LinkedIn has another information crucial: the email address of its users. Professional social network regularly sends messages to its members to keep them abreast of the news of their contacts. The site is well known for its proceeding, contacting users for many reasons: adding a contact, a weekly balance sheet, considered interesting news, etc. Microsoft could now do the same.
One can also imagine the deals coupled between Microsoft software and paid subscriptions LinkedIn. For example, an Office 365 customer may be offered a premium account on LinkedIn. This is already the case for Yammer, another professional social network owned by Microsoft, which is integrated with the suite since the beginning of the year.
● LinkedIn is mobile business
On his arrival at the head of Microsoft, in 2014, Satya Nadella said the mobile as one of the future pillars of its business. The IT group can not compete with rivals in the production of smartphones, as demonstrated by the resounding failure of its takeover of Nokia. However, it has unique expertise: software. Today, Microsoft is trying to establish itself in the mobile as it has done on computers, by developing or acquiring useful applications for users of smartphones and tablets. This is the case of Office 365, but also of Sunrise, an online calendar, or application of email Accomplished. LinkedIn, meanwhile, is a company focused on the mobile. Nearly 60% of users use the application for smartphone and tablet. The latter was extensively renovated at the end of last year, approaching Facebook and its presentation as a news feed. LinkedIn thus fits well porfolio Microsoft.
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