Microsoft’s 5 Biggest Acquisitions of All Time

2. LinkedIn

Date of Purchase: December 2016

Amount Paid By Microsoft: $26.2 billion   

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) purchased LinkedIn in an all-cash transaction in 2016. LinkedIn was the largest professional network in the world when the deal was made and continues to be so, although the growth of users on the platform has slowed in recent years amid a broader lull around social media offerings as the “metaverse” comes into play. When the deal was made, LinkedIn had nearly 433 millions members, 105 million unique visiting members per month, and 45 billion quarterly member page views. 

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) aimed to use the social services that LinkedIn offered to enhance the usage of products like Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), said the purchase, the biggest for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the time, would give Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) the chance to “change the way the world works”. The deal was announced in June 2016 and closed in December.