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I'm surprised by the amount of negativity about the deal here on HN. It seems like an excellent match. I could see LinkedIn as an asset for Microsoft anywhere i
by hammerbrostime 10y ago
I'm surprised by the amount of negativity about the deal here on HN. It seems like an excellent match. I could see LinkedIn as an asset for Microsoft anywhere in the realms of work collaboration and HR. No other social network besides LinkedIn comes close to complimenting MicroSoft's wheelhouse of enterprise utility.
- ravivyas 10y agoI agree, plus Slideshare can be a massive boost to Powerpoint.
- threeseed 10y agoActually there hasn't been enough talk about the companies LinkedIn acquired. Connectifier - recruiting intelligence Lynda - online learning FlipTop - predictive marketing RunHop - personalised content Refresh.io - relationship content surfacing These could be huge additions to Azure, Office 365, Bing, Cortana etc.
- ravivyas 10y agoYup and Rapportive too.
- mistermann 10y agoDon't know if Lynda is a particularly great platform for training but imho MS would be well advised to spend the pittance it would cost to develop high quality free training for all of its applications. Productive users of your tools is important, or should be.
- redwards510 10y agoYou mean something like Microsoft Virtual Academy[1] or Channel9 [2]? Both are free, excellent learning resources on par with Lynda or Pluralsight. [1] http://microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ http://microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ [2] https://channel9.msdn.com/ https://channel9.msdn.com/
- tacticus 10y agoAs someone who has to suffer through lynda. it's a pretty good example of a terrible platform
- _hao 10y agoAs far as I know, Microsoft owns Pluralsight. They also recently bought Digital Tutors. Perhaps another big merge will happen between Pluralsight and Lynda.
- mikepk 10y agoMicrosoft does not own Pluralsight (employee)
- MildlySerious 10y ago> Refresh.io - relationship content surfacing First time I heard that. Wanted to check it out. Redirects to LinkedIn now. Acquisitions killing off the acquired products is a trend I do not enjoy.
- giancarlostoro 10y agoCould of been LinkedIn who did it, they might of wanted to integrate the service into LinkedIn possibly?
- MildlySerious 10y agoI would assume so. It's still sad that these ideas keep getting killed off.
- xanderstrike 10y agoWayback Machine shows the 301s start appearing in late 2015.
- giancarlostoro 10y agoI had no idea LinkedIn owned these sites / services. Especially Lynda... Microsoft could do quite a bit with Lynda they could train programmers through that, maybe even make it more interactive? There's of course other things they could do to those other sites. I really hope they don't just pull the plug on some of them though.
- dkarapetyan 10y agoHave you ever been on the ground floor of a synergistic acquisition? In theory it should be easy to integrate data sources and reap the benefits. In practice what happens are year long efforts and organizational re-structurings every 3-6 months depending on what the cadence is with the end result being people being shuffled around and no benefits being reaped.
- shostack 10y agoThe restructuring is a huge part of it. Like Game of Thrones: Corporate Edition. Everyone is fighting to keep their job and use the opportunity to climb the ladder, and ensure their pet projects remain competitive. There are MASSIVE political interests from all levels and they can often eclipse the focus on actual integration and joining forces.
- sverige 10y agoThis is absolutely the case. Having been through my share of re-orgs due to M&As, another side-effect is that often some of the best talent leaves when things don't go quite the way they wanted.
- dj_doh 10y agoStuffs like these are going to be great boost for MS and its cloud initiative. Zenefit-esque product is next on the horizon.
- blahi 10y agoAnd Lynda to developer and productivity tools.
- simonswords82 10y agoExactly! Linked In is the rolodex of the Internet on steroids. Microsoft just have to align it with the needs of their customers and they win.
- ocdtrekkie 10y agoIndeed. And even on the "buy a social network rather than build one", this is a great choice. Whether they like it or not, pretty much everyone already has LinkedIn.
- mrweasel 10y agoIt think the negativity is mostly due to the price tag. If I was a shareholder I would be furious over Microsoft paying $26billion for a money losing company. Even if Microsoft see some potential the rest of us aren't, and we have to assume that they are, they still need to find a way to turn a profit on the deal. Given that they bought Nokia, only to shut it down, more or less, it would be reasonable for the shareholders to get a plan, detailing how LinkedIn will boost Microsofts business, with more that the $26 billion.
- minusSeven 10y agoI think first thing to happen is lot of linked in employees getting fired. Since linked in employs a lot of people.
- jacquesm 10y agoGuess where they'll be updating their resumes?
- minusSeven 10y agoI think first thing to happen is lot of linked in employees getting fired. Since linked in employs a lot of people.
- riazrizvi 10y agoI wonder how much of the value was attributed to vanity metrics like the number of times people check the site? An inflated number since LinkedIn started using short term exploitation tactics like sending Notification Badges for your contacts' Birthdays and Work Anniversaries. Personally I also feel fleeced out of an outrageous monthly subscription that was sneaked through an undeclared AppStore transaction (I got >50% of the money back but not all). At this point I'm planning on deleting my account.
- linkregister 10y agoCan you talk more about this sneaked-in subscription? That's really concerning.
- spriggan3 10y ago> I'm surprised by the amount of negativity about the deal here on HN price tag + whether it really makes sense for MS. Everybody remembers the Nokia fiasco.
- dave2000 10y agoPlus nobody likes Microsoft or linked in. Microsoft makes stuff you only use because you're paid to, and LinkedIn is something you use because of its ubiquity and despite the phone calls you're going to receive at work by desperate recruiters.
- hulahoof 10y agoUnpopular opinion, but I like MS products - Just not the pricing! I did start in an MSSQL/.Net Devhouse though which may have tinted my rose glasses.
- smoyer 10y agoI hate Microsoft Project (never ever use the resource leveler) ... Visio was better when it was a core part of office - now I have to wonder whether the recipient of a diagram will be able to view it. Other than those two examples, I find that I can get work done in the Microsoft ecosystem.
- bobsil1 10y agoThis is like MS-Yammer at the scale of Google-Moto.
- pbarnes_1 10y ago$26bn is a lot of shareholder money. And MS have a terrible track record for acquisitions.