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Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

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Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#591

Post by xenophonf »

martin-adams wrote: post #443
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…

>> "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" I think this is my problem with LinkedIn, that conversation doesn't happen. I get connection requests and I'm left baffled to what their angle is. I literally scan the bio of the one connecting for the words 'recruiter' or 'business development' and then reject them. It's…

  I get connection requests and I'm left baffled to what
  their angle is.
I think these are recruiters/business developers who don't want to pay for InMail or Premium accounts.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#592

Post by dave2000 »

nailer wrote: post #80
ivoras wrote: post #11

Oh, I can just imagine how the process went at MS: * Exec A: Social things are Good (coming to the conclusion about 10 years too late) * Exec B: Shall we create our own Google+? * Exec C: No, that didn't turn out that well for Google. Let's buy something existing. * Exec B: Ok, I've Googled a list of top 10 social networking sites for sale, and ordered them by list price, but really we'll need to come up with a strat…

I imagine it was more like: - Microsoft has the money - LinkedIn is the biggest thing in recruiting (I don't especially like it either, but it is). 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. - Microsoft makes business tools - There's a bunch of interesting opportunities for intrgating Dynamics, Yammer, and other MS…

"Actually looking forward to MS's UX folk cleaning up LinkedIn."

You buy the shades, and I'll get ready to search the registry for a lower case hack.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#593

Post by bogomipz »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #482
bogomipz wrote: post #325

Can someone explain how Microsoft bought a publicly traded company? Shareholders own Linked in, so did they buy a controlling interest and or is there currently a tender offer circulating for all holders of the common stock? Also curious that MS is valuing it Linked stock at $196 dollars a share when before the weekend it was trading at $133. Did they believe it was undervalued by almost 50% then? That seems dubious.

In the announcement Hoffman is described as the "controlling shareholder". Presumably this controlling interest [1] gives him the ability to agree to the sale without necessarily having the agreement of the other shareholders. [1] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/controllinginterest.asp

Ah, I missed that pertinent detail in the announcement, makes sense. Thanks. Facebook is similar in this respect - a controlling person and publicly traded entity.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#594

Post by scholia »

Karunamon wrote: post #493
partiallypro wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spyware? Really? I can understand the updates making people upset (though they should update!,) and the "suggested apps" in the start menu (which luckily you can turn off.) But calling Windows 10 spyware is total nonsense. Do you think that every other major OS, including Android and iOS, OSX don't take telemetry metrics? You're insane. You could never improve the OS, if you didn't. Google takes telemetry data from y…

I certainly wouldn't call it "spyware" Do you have a better term for code that does user-unwanted tracking of their behavior, on any level, which hides itself from view, is difficult (in many cases impossible) to disable, and resists the will of the user when they try things like hosts file filtering? The only difference between 3rd party spyware and Microsoft spyware is the stated intention of the author. Oh, and th…

> it means that any "improvements" are always going to be pointed at the lowest common denominator, which has a habit of leaving power users out in the cold.

Power users usually remove any influence they might have by opting out of telemetry....

On the other hand, most people on the Windows Insider rings are technically adept, so maybe that balances out.

Of course, the Insider builds have a lot more telemetry....

> Somehow, we improved OSes and UIs before this kind of always on bullshit was commonly accepted.

Everything you do that involves Google (or Facebook etc) provides complete telemetry and those products are continuously updated whether you like it or not.

Now Microsoft has stopped developing stuff on a three-year cycle and switched to 6 months or less. (So you won't have to do any more Big Bang upgrades that take 18 months to plan and 18 months to implement, leaving you permanently behind.)

Either way, it probably makes sense to do more or less continuous OS updates when the OS is integrated with apps and online services (Outlook.com, OneDrive, Office 365 etc).

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#595

Post by swalsh »

pif wrote: post #112

I had been thinking recently about deleting my LinkedIn account. The question has just been settled.

It's a lot like dating. Today you can simply post a profile on a site/app, and algorithms can now match you. Your exposure is now hundreds or thousands of people (no matter your preferences). The happenstance of being in the right place at the right time is cut down so much, it's almost irrelevant. It's far more likely a great match will be on the 1 of 3 places single people go, within the last month. It makes better matches faster. It's a superior way to date.

Without being on LinkedIn, you're now relying on only the network you've built to date. Unfortunately, LinkedIn is not as efficient as OkCupid, but it's where everyone is, and it's the best place to find a career match. Saying you're going to delete your LinkedIn account is a lot like saying "eh, I'm just going to grab drinks at the bar until I meet the right person"

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#596

Post by swalsh »

denzell wrote: post #456

Microsoft just spent 5% of their market cap buying Linkedin. Does anybody think linkedin is worth one twentieth of Microsoft? I don't.

I do, it's literally the most valuable network in the world. Facebook is a friends connection, but LinkedIn is a professional network. Add to that it also has some amazing insight into the macroeconomy, it's also a great tool for prediction.

LinkedIn knows the job report before the jobs report is released. Do you know how much money changes hands after that report is released?

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#597

Post by fma »

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…

Some asset probably complement Microsoft to give Microsoft profit. For example, LinkedIn owns Lynda.com. Microsoft could make all training for their products on Lynda free. This would boost Microsoft's products because their users are more knowledgeable and can use their products better, or brings in new customers because now they have free, quality training. Then maybe those users who enjoy the free Microsoft training on Lynda buys a subscription because they have other things to learn and feel it's worth the value...so this would increase revenue on LinkedIn side.

Yes, Microsoft could have achieved the same result by giving Lynda some $ per user that watches their Microsoft training...This is just one scenario...I hope they have more.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#598

Post by dave2000 »

knodi123 wrote: post #352
lucb1e wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This. This the only reason im excited about the acquisition. LinkedIn UX is awful. Yeah well they acquired Skype and see what a mess that became. Even Windows itself sometimes... I suppose it depends on which team gets the job?

> I suppose it depends on which team gets the job? I bet! The number of people in here that think a company with >118,000 employees is always going to make the same tech and design decisions is baffling.

Microsoft doesn't have that many products that they can't get someone 1) high enough up the tree that people will listen to their comments and 2) with ui experience/common sense to check them prior to any acquisition/major change and make sure it doesn't suck.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#599

Post by vcjohnson »

bogomipz wrote: post #588
vcjohnson wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had no experience with Lynda but what's underwhelming about PS? It definitely seems to lack of depth in a lot of courses but provides a good overview/refresher on things in my experience.

As you mentioned lack of depth is the larger one, but also the rate at which they add new content is not exactly great. Lastly they tend to reuse the same author's for certain subjects which creates a lack of diversity in the teaching. These last two are common to both Lynda and Pluaralsight. At $25.00 and $30.00/month this is one of the highest priced subscription services on the internet and as such you would expec…

Yeah I'll admit I hadn't considered lack of instructor diversity. Subscription fees are thankfully paid for by my employer so it's not a huge issue for me personally but I could understand how that would be difficult to justify for individuals.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#600

Post by jacquesm »

wwice wrote: post #524
torgeek wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

didnt microsoft remove the p2p functionality and made skype highly centralized?

They did so because it was hard to do P2P for Skype on phones.

I figured that was just a figleaf and that the real reason was that this made it easier to intercept the traffic.
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