Microsoft Beat Four Other Rivals To Acquire LinkedIn

Ahead of Microsoft’s $26.2 billion (£18bn) purchase of LinkedIn, documents published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveal that the enterprise social network was in conversations with four other companies regarding a possible purchase.

The document, aside from Microsoft, refers to the other bidding parties as Party A, Party B, Party C, and Party D. Party A is now known to be Salesforce, as confirmed by CEO Marc Benioff.

Party B and Party D are thought to be Google and Facebook, respectively, while Party C is rumoured to have been IBM.

Cash deal

The SEC filing reveals that Microsoft in fact did not offer the most to LinkedIn, but because of the all-cash deal, LinkedIn decided Microsoft was the best suitor. Microsoft actually increased its offer to $196 a share on June 11, up from $182 a share.

This was after Party A, ie Salesforce, offered around $200 a share. However, this deal would have been part stock and part cash.

Microsoft’s initial proposals began in February, when CEO Satya Nadella met with LinkedIn boss Jeff Weiner.

“On February 16 2016 Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn’s chief executive, met Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, to discuss the ongoing commercial relationship between the companies and ways to enhance it,” said the documents.

Then, throughout March, Weiner met with representatives of Party A and Party B.
But on March 15: “Mr. Weiner called Mr. Nadella to inquire as to whether Microsoft was interested in discussing further a potential acquisition of LinkedIn, and explained that, although LinkedIn was not for sale, others had expressed interest in an acquisition. Mr. Nadella responded that he would discuss the matter further with Microsoft’s board of directors.”

In the end, after months of meetings between executives from all parties, LinkedIn decided on Microsoft because the offer had “certainty of value”, while the Salesforce bid had some risks, according to the filing.

It was June 11 when a deal between Microsoft and LinkedIn was finalised, with the news announced two days later.

Take our cybersecurity of 2016 quiz here!

Ben Sullivan

Ben covers web and technology giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft and their impact on the cloud computing industry, whilst also writing about data centre players and their increasing importance in Europe. He also covers future technologies such as drones, aerospace, science, and the effect of technology on the environment.

Recent Posts

Ericsson To Cut 1,200 Jobs in Sweden Amid ‘Challenging’ Market

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…

5 hours ago

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For $8bn Fraud

Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…

6 hours ago

Elon Musk Orders FSD Demo For Every Tesla US Sale

Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…

7 hours ago

Amazon Pumps Another $2.75 Billion Into Anthropic

Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…

9 hours ago

The Sustainability of AI

While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…

12 hours ago

Trump’s Truth Social Makes Successful Market Debut

Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company rose about 16 percent after first day of…

12 hours ago