Microsoft has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.
The deal will see LinkedIn retain its distinct brand, culture and independence and Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn, reporting to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. The transaction is expected to close this calendar year.
Nadella said: “The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centred 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.”
Weiner said: “Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn’s network, now gives us a chance to also change the way the world works.
“For the last 13 years, we’ve been uniquely positioned to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful, and I’m looking forward to leading our team through the next chapter of our story.”
In a previous social networking acquisition, Microsoft acquired Yammer in 2012 for $1.2 billion, and bought Skype for $8.5bn in 2011.
LinkedIn recently discovered that its 2012 breach affected over 100 million after originally believing it only affected around six million. As a result, password use across the internet has been affected.
Cory Scott, director of information security at Linkedin, gave a keynote talk at last week’s Infosecurity Europe, where he identified the challenge in finding and retaining talent, and advised companies to abandon some of the more traditional recruitment screening processes like resume checks and instead urged them to implement bespoke, practical “work sample tests” that suit the specific needs of the organization.