Microsoft buying LinkedIn for $26 billion

[Blackjack200]

I honestly don't know anyone who uses it or takes it seriously.
People I don't know kept trying to add me as someone who knew them.

I haven't logged in to their system for probably 4-5 years now.

There's a really good article about how to effectively use LinkedIn and how the best way to use it is not how the LinkedIn corporate wants people to use it.

It boils down to the number of connections people have. Users are encouraged to indiscriminately add people to make their network seem larger and more attractive to a potential employer. LinkedIn wants you to do this, because people tend to invite their business contacts to join LinkedIn if they're not already signed up, so it helps them grow their user base.

The problem is, now you've go 500 contacts; most of whom you wouldn't even recognize on the street, so people don't really use it to communicate. The author recommended cutting your network down to just the business contacts you'd feel comfortable asking for a favor from. That way if you see a "2nd" level connection that would be good for you to meet, you feel comfortable reaching out to your mutual connection to ask for an introduction.

If you are in the right industries it's a good place for consulting leads. I've got a lot of job opportunities solicited through it.

I've found it useless for financial services, but I'm going to try the author's suggestions and see what happens. Only problem is that cutting down your network is a chore, so I haven't done it yet.

 

[nboy22]

LinkedIn also owns Lynda.com right now, so I imagine that is all part of the acquisition too.

 

[Jeff7]

You'd have to add an extra zero to that amount to get near facebook level values. Before this MSFT was sitting on about 100 billion in cash. Not sure what the impulse was to drop 25 bills (get it...Bills) on LinkedIn.

You are a disappointment to all of us here.

 

[manly]

Hopefully this will be a better buy than the $7.8b for Nokia..

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/13/technology/microsoft-linkedin/index.html

wow, all cash. This is one way for people to forget the disastrous NOK acquisition.

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say Satya Nadella's job security takes a hit (MS is the rare business that make big mistakes), I don't see how you can justify this transaction size.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Still trying to wrap my head around how MS will try to extract value out of Linkedin in a legal and ethical manor. Maybe I answered my own question.

User data and marketing. Same as facebook.


They also get Lynda.com I believe.

 

[iCyborg]

You'd have to add an extra zero to that amount to get near facebook level values. Before this MSFT was sitting on about 100 billion in cash. Not sure what the impulse was to drop 25 bills (get it...Bills) on LinkedIn.

Well, it opens the Gates to social media.

 

[Imp]

I'm surprised Facebook doesn't just add a more extensive career section and just wipe out the competition in an instant.

 

[holden j caufield]

I'm amazed they did this for this much money. I remember a day in Feb of this year around earnings season their stock dropped from 200 to 100 on abysmal growth and outlook. If I were MS I'd rather own Twitter.

 

[StrangerGuy]

User data and marketing. Same as facebook.


They also get Lynda.com I believe.

Even with that business model I really fail to see how any of the social networks can generate enough revenue to be anywhere close to their insane valuations. At the very least with Youtube I can see how Google can earn money by peering agreements with ISPs.

 

[Demo24]

From the sounds of it, LinkedIn was headed the Twitter way -- functional but people realizing it was overvalued.

Then in comes Microsoft...

So, that makes Nokia, Skype, and now LinkedIn. Nokia is dead and barely helped Microsoft grow their phone market share. Skype is up against Apple Facetime and Google Hangout? Did MSFT think they were buying the next Facebook -- 5+ years too late?

At least on a basic level Skype integrates in with o365. We use Skype for business and it's generally pretty great. So I'm that instance it's more cohesive than hangouts or FaceTime. It's also still quite popular for calling international, video calls, etc. I routinely hear 'we'll skype them'.

Got to remember Microsoft is often buying user bases and LinkedIn has a pretty large one.

 

[KentState]

User data and marketing. Same as facebook.


They also get Lynda.com I believe.

Do you think the business models of Facebook and MS are the same? It's a stretch to think that a software/services company will pivot and take a job networking platform and turn into a Facebook.

Second, there are a lot of restrictions around what you can do with personal information for advertising. If MS starts selling PII information, professionals will more than likely have to pull out of or limit their usage of LinkedIn. Do you really think that competitors will want a CRM graph of all potential leads in MS hands?

 

[Blackjack200]

Well, it opens the Gates to social media.

Your joke is bad and you should feel bad.

I'm surprised Facebook doesn't just add a more extensive career section and just wipe out the competition in an instant.

"Check out these pictures of me and my crew puking into a 3/4 replica of The Stanley Cup, oh and if you're looking for a Swift developer, head on over to my career page!"

 

[Linux23]

can MSFT or anyone please invest in Kanye West?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ion-dollars-in-kanye-west-ideas-a6881291.html

Just imagine how great society will be with Kanye's ideas unleasged upon societly.

 

[iCyborg]

Your joke is bad and you should feel good.

But .. but, I was going for a bad pun/joke, worse than vi edit's. I fixed your quote.

 

[purbeast0]

I'm surprised Facebook doesn't just add a more extensive career section and just wipe out the competition in an instant.

it wouldn't happen like that. linked in is known as a professional network whereas facebook isn't. it's just a free for all with a buncha idiots making posts braggin about their lives to make themselves feel better. they are just different.

 

[manly]

I'm amazed they did this for this much money. I remember a day in Feb of this year around earnings season their stock dropped from 200 to 100 on abysmal growth and outlook. If I were MS I'd rather own Twitter.

Twitter has the same problem, but even more amplified. A wildly popular service with millions of eyeballs attached, but literally no business model towards sustained profitably.

In the mid 2000s, it was still unclear whether FB would be a profit machine but they brought in Sheryl Sandberg to figure that out. But execs of that caliber are extremely difficult to find.

 

[iamwiz82]

 

[IronWing]

Think Clippy on marketing steroids. "I see you are entering engineering data in Excel. Here is a list of consultants in your area that can help. Would you like me to have them give you a call?"


Gol dang it! Every good idea has been done. I was typing while iamwiz82 was posting.

 

[vi edit]

LOL!

Next up is buying some VR upstart and getting MS Bob 2.0 with virtual desktops. Maybe they weren't so far off 20 years ago.

http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com...es-Hints-at-the-Return-of-Microsoft-Bob-2.jpg

 

[zinfamous]

I get the feeling that if Microsoft just gave me $1 billion to invest however I want (basically--do nothing), I would come out ahead of whatever their current plan is.

 

[zinfamous]

it wouldn't happen like that. linked in is known as a professional network whereas facebook isn't. it's just a free for all with a buncha idiots making posts braggin about their lives to make themselves feel better. they are just different.

My aunt has a LinkedIn account and her profession is "domestic goddess."

...how is that different from "unprofessional" facebook?


(No, she is not one of my contacts, but she tried to be. )

 

[poofyhairguy]

Even with that business model I really fail to see how any of the social networks can generate enough revenue to be anywhere close to their insane valuations.

AD revenues for online media is far lower for the exposure you get compared to say TV. There is a lot of room to grow.

 

[cyclistca]

LinkedIn is pretty much becoming Facebook. See more and more people post stuff about their families or horrible things that have happened in the world. LinkedIn is for business take your personal stuff to other sites.

As to the purchase I'm sure MC will drive it into the ground.

 

[Imp]

it wouldn't happen like that. linked in is known as a professional network whereas facebook isn't. it's just a free for all with a buncha idiots making posts braggin about their lives to make themselves feel better. they are just different.

I've used LinkedIn and Facebook, and the amount of bragging is the same, it just takes a slightly different form and is written more professionally. The stretching of truths about job responsibilities and qualifications that go on there... yikes. Instead of bragging about your bottle of Jack, you brag about your MBA, MA, or thesis that no one will ever read.

Employers are, apparently, checking Facebook/Twitter et al. profiles nowadays. There have even been people saying they've been asked to log into their profiles by potential employers. Facebook may as well get ahead and allow for a sugarcoated professional profile.

 

[Ns1]

There have even been people saying they've been asked to log into their profiles by potential employers.

and I'd kindly tell them to fuck off and die. they can go ahead and take a look at my locked down public profile all they want.