Big news in the tech world back in June with Microsoft announcing they were acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2b. I remember watching CNBC Fast Money the day of the announcement and Melissa Lee asking the panel how would Microsoft monetize the acquisition? No one on the panel seemed to have an answer and I sent out this tweet at the time:
Now that a few months have passed and the dust settled, my esteemed colleagues, Steve Wilson, privacy and security expert, Alan Lepofsky, Guru in social collaboration, and I had a chance to examine the deal in more detail. We co-authored a new report, Microsoft Acquires LinkedIn, Shaping the Future of Work, that explores the opportunities — and possibilities, that lie ahead as the companies come together.
As a person that sits in the center of marketing and sales, I saw many opportunities for Microsoft to capitalize on the deal. It will require great acquisition integration, but the potential is there from expanding Navigator, adding new data augmentation/content append solutions, to the possibilities with the PointDrive acquisition for sales engagement.
Constellation clients can access the full joint report or read an excerpt here.
Also read Alan and Steve's perspectives at:
#FutureOfWork: The Combined Microsoft and LinkedIn Graphs #socbiz by Alan Lepofsky
- Did Microsoft buy LinkedIn for the contacts? by Steve Wilson
