{"id":150257,"date":"2018-01-31T21:13:52","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T02:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=150257"},"modified":"2018-01-31T21:13:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T02:13:52","slug":"microsoft-and-linkedin-is-their-marriage-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/31\/microsoft-and-linkedin-is-their-marriage-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft and LinkedIn: Is their marriage working?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"It's<\/a>
It’s been just over a year since Microsoft swallowed the career networking site LinkedIn. (Photo<\/a> by Open Grid Scheduler \/ Grid Engine\/Flickr<\/a>, Public Domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s been just over a year since Microsoft swallowed the career networking site LinkedIn. That’s long enough to start asking: Was the $27 billion deal worth it?<\/p>\n

Critics warned at the time of the deal that Microsoft was overpaying for a declining business. Others argued that Microsoft’s largest-ever acquisition fit into a strategy of building up the company’s Office suite of workplace productivity products and its cloud-computing business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think we’ll know for a couple years if this will really pay off, but the signs thus far are positive,\u201d said Jillian Ryan, an analyst for eMarketer.<\/p>\n

Most people who use LinkedIn to connect with colleagues or search for career opportunities could be forgiven if they haven’t noticed many changes since the acquisition closed in December 2016.<\/p>\n

LinkedIn’s longtime CEO Jeff Weiner continues to hold that title. Its co-founder, Reid Hoffman, now sits on Microsoft’s board. The LinkedIn brand is operating with a \u201cgreat level of autonomy,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicrosoft hasn’t really intervened that much, considering the vast scope and price tag of this integration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Microsoft on Wednesday posted second-quarter revenue of $28.92 billion, a 12 per cent increase over the same quarter a year earlier. The company also reported a loss of $6.3 billion, tied to a $13.8 billion tax charge related to the new federal tax law signed in December.<\/p>\n

LinkedIn’s contribution to quarterly revenue was $1.3 billion, the highest it’s been since the acquisition closed in December 2016, though it’s still too early to compare year-over-year growth.<\/p>\n

Still, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood and CEO Satya Nadella were effusive about the network’s performance in a conference call with investors Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Hood said the acquisition is \u201cperforming better than we expected, and I think today we would even say it’s a more strategic asset than we even maybe thought a year ago.\u201d She referred to its power to add to the company’s understanding of its customers and their connections with one another.<\/p>\n

LinkedIn boasts of more than 530 million users on its professional network, most of whom use it for free. But the service also contributes to Microsoft’s bottom line through its three business divisions. The biggest, dubbed \u201ctalent solutions,\u201d helps recruiters attract and find jobs for workers. It also makes money from advertisements on its platform and offers paid subscriptions for online courses and premium access on its network.<\/p>\n

Among those buying into the platform are sales representatives using it as a tool for \u201csocial selling,\u201d or targeting prospective customers through their trusted social networks and connections.<\/p>\n

Another of LinkedIn’s co-founders and its first chief technology officer, Eric Ly, said in an interview Wednesday that this is \u201creally just the beginning\u201d of what LinkedIn could offer as Microsoft taps into the professional network’s database of work histories and other detailed information that users share about themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of value in the data alone,\u201d said Ly, who now runs a new company called Hub. \u201cMicrosoft’s going to be able to recoup its investments and get a lot more back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadella also says the integration fits into a larger strategy. In an autobiography published last year , he wrote that he has a \u201cbias\u201d for driving investment toward advancing services such as LinkedIn and Office that help people create and \u201cbecome more productive rather than software that is simply entertaining \u2014 memes for conspicuous consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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