Microsoft buys LinkedIn: It’s a Match?

In the biggest tech acquisition in years, Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.

Since my new course is designed around converting Microsoft Excel skills into job leads via LinkedIn, this topic is huge to me. So what do I think?

It’s awesome in theory, but I worry about how this will be executed. 

LinkedIn is already a blob of careers platforms

LinkedIn had been on its own acquisition binge prior to this, buying companies like SlideShare, Pulse, and Lynda to make the site a peer-to-peer career development and recruitment platform. This is exactly what the new labor market needs, but I fear LinkedIn never really integrated well. Its self-publishing Pulse tool has taken a lot of criticism for not promoting amateur writers much, and after nearly a year I saw very little cross-promotion over to Lynda.

Can Microsoft play this well with others?

How will Microsoft do here? Well, I do think Microsoft realizes they can no longer be a siloed, proprietary platform. While it remains the leader in BI and analytics software, it realizes the serious competition and has learned to “play well” with them through better integration. 

It has also done a great job building its user community, with serious engagement on social media and other channels. 

There are a lot of implications to think through with this acquistion. Will Lynda still teach classes on competing software, like Tableau or Google Sheets? Will Microsoft finally get something out of its Skype acquisition as webinar or remote job interview or outsourcing platform?

What do you think?

George J. Mount is the author of the course “Hired with Excel: What Every Analyst Needs to Know.” Learn the essential Excel tools for every analyst and how to convert them to job interviews and career development. Get started now.