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Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

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Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#541

Post by math0ne »

Silhouette wrote: post #448
partiallypro wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is the cheapest of the big networks. LinkedIn is entrenched in its market, unlike most of the others (including Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) Twitter I think would be a good buy somewhere, but Jack and his team seem inept and they probably want a massive premium. When I first heard the news it made no sense; but after pondering, I think I know what they are trying to do, and it does makes sense. Also, LinkedIn w…

is really close to profit This is the thing I find hard to understand about these big corporate acquisitions. What multiple of "really close to profit" makes a bigger number than $26B? If it's a start-up with obvious potential but relatively early in its life, or an established business that is currently reinvesting revenues on a large scale to drive growth, I can understand not being concerned about the profits. But…

26B dollars itself isn't making any money, so all it has to do is make some money and its a good deal.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#544

Post by gizmodo59 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #251
swalsh wrote: post #244

How does it work when a public company acquires another public company? If you have existing LinkedIn shares, do they get converted to Microsoft shares?... or do they just disappear one day, and a pile of cash takes its place?

That depends if the sale is for cash, stock, or a mix. Could be either or both of the alternatives you lay out.

This is an all cash acquisition.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#545

Post by wwweston »

An angle I haven't seen anyone mention:

They now own Lynda.com, one of the strongest software and general education entities out there. This gives them not only a channel for promoting their own software (or providing some really comprehensive integrated help/training), but an insight into what kinds of software and other training people are putting time into.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#546

Post by aioprisan »

criddell wrote: post #348
ryanSrich wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just the UX but all aspects of brand and design. LinkedIn is hideous, difficult to use, buggy, and creepy. If MSFT can fix a few of those it'll be a win. If not it's hard to see the platform living another 5 years.

> LinkedIn is hideous, difficult to use, buggy, and creepy. If MSFT can fix a few of those it'll be a win. Have you seen Windows 10 yet?

While I'm a big Mac fan and moved to Apple products over 10 years ago, Windows 10 is the first alternative that I would actually consider using full-time now. I think the privacy concerns are valid and should be available to all, not just the pro/enterprise crowd.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#547

Post by fecak »

pricechild wrote: post #540
fecak wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK. If you happened to be on LinkedIn and saw someone that had taken the time to put together an attractive profile (nice summary, links to GitHub and maybe a tech blog, their email address (contact me at...), a comment about being open to new career opportunities, all the niceties), and that person's skill set was a fit for a position you had currently available, would you just pretend you didn't see this person at…

If that's how it really worked then it might work out ok. But this is the real world and standards aren't going to be kept that high. Even if you stick to doing things well, your competitors won't and they will turn us off you too.

I'm not entirely sure if you're referring to 'your competitors' to mean 'other recruiters' (not sure you realized I'm a recruiter), but my comment here actually is referring to job seekers interacting directly with potential employers without any recruiters involved.

I agree entirely with your second point. Identifying myself as a recruiter immediately is the end of conversation with many in the industry due to the actions of a growing percentage of recruiters. It's unfortunate, and one reason I'm expanding business into consulting with companies to help them attract job seekers without using recruiters. Candidates these days are often inclined to go directly without a middleman.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#548

Post by simonswords82 »

beagle3 wrote: post #316
simonswords82 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft employs fifty thousand engineers. A group of them fucked up with that Windows 10 debacle. I reckon on the whole Microsoft very much do care about their reputation.

You've made this comment more than once on this thread. Microsoft employs many people, but it is hierarchily managed. Things like the Windows 10 dark patterns might happen, but once the users complain (and users have been complaining since the day win 10 was out, when the patterns weren't nearly as dark), someone with veto power gets involved. This was definitely done with the approval - and I guess blessing and even…

I just don't see it. I don't see something this low level spun up to board level.

I'm also not sure what "new Microsoft" you're referring to. Their attitude is much much better under Satya; they're not perfect but they're moving in the right direction.

The board level may very well have set down a strategy which was "Hey, computers that are running old versions of our OS are a real pain. Let's tell our OS team that we need them to get customers to upgrade. Hell, we've looked at the figures and it's actually cheaper for us to GIVE Windows 10 away - so keep that in mind technical peeps".

The technical peeps come to look at it and decide on this stupid idea. Interestingly, Microsoft applied a half assed fix to the problem:

"Based on customer feedback, in the most recent version of the Get Windows 10 (GWX) app, we confirm the time of your scheduled upgrade and provide you an additional opportunity for cancelling or rescheduling the upgrade. The screen you see may change slightly based on new feedback."

From: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3095675

So you see, they did address the problem.

It's really not some evil plan to screw over their users. It was a dumb mistake, made by a handful of people who then half-assedly corrected it.

As a tech community we're fixated on this shit but in the real world it really doesn't reflect all of Microsoft.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#549

Post by foldr »

g051051 wrote: post #496
fecak wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't personally hire someone via recruiters or LinkedIn, but I would hire someone via a recomendation from a contact I maintain on LinkedIn. I'm a recruiter, and fully understand reluctance to use recruiters (expensive, not to mention a host of other reputation issues). I don't quite understand "I would't hire someone via...LinkedIn". 'Hire someone via LinkedIn' could mean a host of things. The most obvious w…

> If you saw a LinkedIn profile that you thought would make a good addition to your team, would you not reach out to that person just because you found them on LinkedIn? I'd never approach someone cold like that. >If someone approached you and said "I saw your profile on LinkedIn and I like what your company is doing, I'd like to get together and discuss the possibility of working with you", would you say no? I'd abs…

>I'd absolutely say no, because that kind of unsolicited approach means that you're just fishing, and that I happened to wind up in your net along with umpteen others.

No it doesn't. I've contacted companies who weren't advertising jobs a few times and it was because I had a specific interest in working at the company in question. In my experience people are usually quite pleased to get these kinds of inquiries, whether or not they have a suitable position. Of course your initial inquiry has to be tailored and not just some kind of generic "gimme a job please" spam.

That aside, who exactly do you think you are? Most people who are going to be applying for jobs are naturally going to be applying for jobs at a bunch of different companies. After all, it would be a bit presumptuous to assume that the first company you contact is going to hire you, and most people are able to identify quite a number of companies where they would probably be happy to work. Is your outfit really so special that you can demand serial monogamy from job applicants?

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#550

Post by artursapek »

lujim wrote: post #19

Congrats to anyone who was holding LinkedIn stock. Microsoft's bid of $196 per share has LNKD up $63 bucks a share or 48% in premarket. Edit: Also a cautionary tale for anyone shorting a stock that fundamentally sucks but could be a buyout target. Use options instead!

The calls on LNKD are looking pretty sweet http://i.imgur.com/EMdaiMO.png
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