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Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

news.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#681

Post by noxxten »

martyvis wrote: post #668
marme wrote: post #644

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MS bought skype just to stop google from buying they. Google made a big for skype and MS swooped in and outbid them. They never had any real plans for skype they just dont want to allow google to gain near monopoly in the consumer VOIP market. Which seems strange for MS to care about since they were not in this sector previously but Ballmer just held such a huge grudge with google and did it out of spite. Really show…

Skype for Business (and it's predecessor Lync) owns corporate voice and collaboration market

Unfortunately.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#682

Post by etangent »

wombatpm wrote: post #566
alexandersingh wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples and oranges. Also, this has been a common spectacle for me: Click here to congratulate Jill for reaching her ninth anniversary at Yoyodyne! "..But Jill left that company 5 years ago.."

Or better yet. Do you know Dave? Connect with Dave. Dave died two years ago. Really don't want to contact his widow to make this stop.

ok, i get that it seems annoying, but why would it entail poor company performance?

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#683

Post by blackflame7000 »

dpkrjb wrote: post #471
matsur wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different people. Both of those acquisitions were in the Ballmer era.

Don't Microsoft own a fund? Wouldn't they realistically send the same team to value Linkdin and Nokia?

Would you send the same people after the job they did last time?

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#684

Post by vtlynch »

oblio wrote: post #150

The comments here are hilarious, they really reveal the IT bubble. The only real complaint about this purchase would be that LinkedIn was overvalued. And I wouldn't bet on that since Microsoft surely sent a big team of their brightest cookies to make a valuation of the company. But other than that, LinkedIn fits: it is a corporate social network, if you will. I know that "corporate social network" is almost an oxymor…

Here is the main problem: Who likes LinkedIn?

Sure, we can debate its usefulness, how popular it is outside of IT, etc. But I think across the board, no one LIKES LinkedIn.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#685

Post by skrebbel »

martyvis wrote: post #668
marme wrote: post #644

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MS bought skype just to stop google from buying they. Google made a big for skype and MS swooped in and outbid them. They never had any real plans for skype they just dont want to allow google to gain near monopoly in the consumer VOIP market. Which seems strange for MS to care about since they were not in this sector previously but Ballmer just held such a huge grudge with google and did it out of spite. Really show…

Skype for Business (and it's predecessor Lync) owns corporate voice and collaboration market

But it didn't back then, and it's only called Skype because MS acquired Skype, not the other way around. At the time of the acquisition, comparing Skype to Office Communicator (as it was called before Lync) was a stretch at best.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#686

Post by alex_c »

dopamean wrote: post #673
alex_c wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy (and fun!) to criticize in hindsight, but there was a strong strategic case to be made for the Nokia acquisition back then. Obviously it didn't work out, but given Microsoft's cash reserves at the time it wasn't even a particularly large gamble.

It's not "criticism in hindsight." It's simply acknowledging that those same "bright cookies" can make mistakes.

Fair enough. My point was that there's a difference between a valuation mistake and a calculated risk that doesn't work out - and it can be very difficult to tell which one's which, especially from the outside. Any acquisition can end up a failure because of integration issues, changing market conditions, failure to execute new products, etc. - it doesn't necessarily mean the original valuation was wrong.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#687

Post by etangent »

Sharlin wrote: post #433
etangent wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It prompts me every now and again to congratulate people on job anniversaries--maybe people do that but it's a weak play when a company reaches to those depths. So what? Facebook prompts me to congratulate on people's birthdays, and Facebook is doing quite well.

Facebook contacts are my friends, at least for some value of "a friend". LinkedIn contacts are not.

How does that distinction matter? Wasn't it LinkedIn's goal from the very beginning to make one interact with people who are not one's friends? (Otherwise how does one expand one's network if one merely interacts with the people one knows well?)

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#688

Post by etangent »

aleem wrote: post #371
etangent wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It prompts me every now and again to congratulate people on job anniversaries--maybe people do that but it's a weak play when a company reaches to those depths. So what? Facebook prompts me to congratulate on people's birthdays, and Facebook is doing quite well.

> Facebook prompts me to congratulate on people's birthdays, and Facebook is doing quite well. So What? :) Snapchat compels people to post videos of their cats and daily humdrum. And it also does quite well.

You seem to be proving my point.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#689

Post by regularfry »

anentropic wrote: post #289
oblio wrote: post #150

The comments here are hilarious, they really reveal the IT bubble. The only real complaint about this purchase would be that LinkedIn was overvalued. And I wouldn't bet on that since Microsoft surely sent a big team of their brightest cookies to make a valuation of the company. But other than that, LinkedIn fits: it is a corporate social network, if you will. I know that "corporate social network" is almost an oxymor…

does anyone actually interact on LinkedIn? I thought it was just a platform for recruitment spam

If MS can disconnect LinkedIn from having to monetise its social graph directly, they might actually be able to turn it into something likeable.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#690

Post by etangent »

softawre wrote: post #464
Nimitz14 wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that something you do every year? Congratulate your friends on their job anniversaries?

Congrats on the 30 minute anniversary of writing this comment. Good luck in your future endeavors.

What I don't understand though is why people (specifically on this forum) seem to hate these prompts so much. Sure, they're annoying, but I've always ignored them, and they never bothered me. Do you people automatically do what the talking head on television tells you to? Of course not. So why so much vicious sarcasm directed towards LinkedIn?
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