Microsoft To Purchase LinkedIn For $26.2bn

The social network's shares soared by 49% on news of the acquisition, which is set to be completed by the end of the year.

Microsoft has signed a surprise deal to buy the professional social network LinkedIn for $26.2bn (£18.3bn) in cash.

In a statement, the tech company said LinkedIn would "retain its distinct brand, culture and independence" following the acquisition.

Microsoft is to pay $196 (£139) per share for the growing company - a 50% premium on the stock's closing price last Friday.

LinkedIn, which boasts more than 430 million users worldwide, allows people to network with fellow professionals, upload their CVs and apply for jobs.

Jeff Weiner will continue to head the social network, and will report to Microsoft's chief executive Satya Nadella.

The acquisition comes four years after LinkedIn was hit by a major cyber attack - and last month a hacker caused alarm by claiming he had more than 100 million logins for sale.

Shares in LinkedIn surged 47.8% on the news, while Microsoft's share price fell 4.1%.

In a joint statement, both companies said they expected the deal to close this year.

Mr Weiner hopes the merged companies can 'change the way the world works'

LinkedIn reported a net loss of $45.8m in the three months to 31 March, compared with $42.5m a year earlier.

However, it has enjoyed 19% year-on-year growth in its user base, and has seen impressive increases in page views and job listings in recent months.

Microsoft has been trying to move away from being solely a software company by focusing on services and cloud computing, while boosting growth has been a priority for LinkedIn.

Priorities for the newly merged company will likely include speeding up monetisation by growing subscription revenues and increasing the use of targeted advertising.

"For the last 13 years, we’ve been uniquely positioned to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful, and I’m looking forward to leading our team through the next chapter of our story," Mr Weiner said.

Although Microsoft has paid a substantial premium for LinkedIn, the social network has been sold for considerably less than its peak of $270 a share in 2015.

Shares tumbled earlier in the year after it reported lower-than-expected revenues and a weak profit forecast, both of which were blamed on slowing online ad revenue and the global economic slowdown.

The deal has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies - however, the acquisition will have to be approved by regulators in the US, Canada, Brazil and the EU.

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Five Things Apple Needs To Fix At WWDC

While the company is likely to announce iOS 10, Sky's Technology Correspondent makes a wish list of other updates needed.

Apple is expected to unveil a range of new software updates at its annual developers conference (WWDC) later.

But what is on the wish list for users and experts alike?

1. Siri

Poor Siri. She/he was the first digital, voice controlled personal assistant to go mass-market, four whole years ago.

Now, she/he is looking rather rough around the edges, with Microsoft's Cortana, Google Now and Amazon's Alexa all doing a better job.

This matters because voice - along with chat - will be how we interact with phones, as they become more like smart robots, reacting to our situations and desires.

Apple should throw all of its weight behind Siri. The Cupertino company has been snapping up AI start ups, so it may well do this.

Siri now has competitors from other tech firms

2. iCloud encryption

Apple fought a vicious battle with the FBI over unlocking the phone of the San Bernadino gunman - and it won.

That fight would have been avoided if the terrorist had kept his iCloud back-ups up to date.

Unlike your iPhone, which Apple can't unlock, it can decrypt everything you put on iCloud - and it does on occasion turn that data over to law enforcement agencies.

Could Apple go one step further, and fully encrypt your iCloud? Technically, yes, and Apple is certainly unimpressed enough with the FBI to do this.

But fully encrypting iCloud would mean that forgetting your password would mean losing all your data - forever.

Convenience trumps security here, so this is only an outside chance.

3. iMessages on Android

For a while, Apple likely had the most popular messaging app in the world.

But like Siri - and indeed, announced at the same WWDC in 2011 - iMessage was superseded by other apps, first WhatsApp, then Messenger.

Now chat apps are the hottest opportunities in technology. Apple should open iMessage up to non-iOS platforms including Android.

It's not such an outlandish idea these days, with Apple Music available on Android.  Surely the battle is already lost, though?

How can it possibly catch WhatsApp? One word: GIFs. WhatsApp doesn't support them, for now; iMessage does. Game on.

4. Apple Watch

I'm not sure there's anything Apple can do software-wise to reignite interest in the Apple Watch.

The second version of the operating system, shown at last year's WWDC, was an update rather than anything radical.

From my testing and from speaking to Apple Watch owners, the only real benefit of wearing one is the notifications; controlling apps on the small screen is just too fiddly.

A complete OS overhaul, now Apple knows exactly how people are using their wrist computer, would be interesting, but it's unlikely.

And maybe unnecessary, because what do I know - my dad seems to like it as is.

5. Apple Music

As I've written before, Apple Music is great in a lot of ways, but it's also a mess.

Apple needs to simplify the interface, borrow some lessons from Spotify's Discover playlist, get rid of Connect, charge for Beats1, fix syncing with the Apple Music Library and everything will be ok.

This one is likely to happen.

:: Apple's event is due to begin at 6pm UK time and 10am PDT.

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