Microsoft has reportedly offered concessions to the European Union in a bid to receive clearance for the proposed $26.2 billion (£21bn) takeover of professional social network LinkedIn.
Antitrust regulators at the European Commission (EC) expressed concerns at a meeting with the company last week, according to Reuters, and will now consider the proposals.
The EC will decide by 6 December whether to approve the deal, demand more concessions or launch a full investigation.
Microsoft believes the presence of Facebook in the market should be considered sufficient to ease such concerns and is seeking approval. The addition of LinkedIn will be a major boost to Microsoft’s attempts to sell cloud services and would be its largest ever purchase – dwarfing Skype and Nokia among others.
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 an SEC filing.
The other bidders for LinkedIn are believed to have been Google, Facebook and IBM, all of whom would want access to the data to sell either advertising or services.
Elon Musk brain-chip start-up Neuralink seeks patients for feasibility study after implanting chip in first…
News of xAI's $6bn funding round and plans for Nvidia-powered supercomputer extend rally of Nvidia…
European Commission says in contact with Telegram as platform nears 45 million user threshold for…
OpenAI creates committee to oversee safety of 'superintelligent' AIs after disbanding 'superalignment' team amidst criticism…
China's most valuable internet company develops AI database to help researchers decipher ancient oracle bone…
Cases by TikTok, ByteDance, content creators get fast-track schedule as company faces forced sale or…
View Comments
Is there some link between the item about Facebook suspending WhatsApp data sharing, within the EU and this article ? Has the situation with Facebook led to these latest 'discussions' between Microsoft and the EC ?