4 ms·
>I guess anything makes sense to a company that paid $26 billion USD for LinkedIn. Is there data to support that this was overvalued? Not personally a big fan
by hellomyguys 6y ago
>I guess anything makes sense to a company that paid $26 billion USD for LinkedIn.
Is there data to support that this was overvalued? Not personally a big fan of LinkedIn, but it seemed like probably a good long-term buy for Microsoft.
- muststopmyths 6y agoI don't know, tbh. But to my understanding, it was not profitable before the acquisition. It does generate ~5 billion dollars in revenue now, but Microsoft won't tell you how much of that is profit. Even if I charitably apportion 1B profit (which I bet Microsoft would trumpet if that was a thing), that's 20+ years to make the 26B back. My bigger problem with LinkedIn is that it's a cesspool of recruiter spam. Lynda.com was the only worthwhile part of it, and I wonder if that's still around/popular. I'm also bitter about them calling Windows Phone too expensive to keep going at around the same time, so I might be a bit biased :-)
- DubiousPusher 6y agoDang, I loved the Windows Phone shell. Aesthetically, one of the best things MS has ever done.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- aphextron 6y ago>I don't know, tbh. But to my understanding, it was not profitable before the acquisition. It does generate ~5 billion dollars in revenue now, but Microsoft won't tell you how much of that is profit. Isn't a valuation at ~5 years revenue pretty standard for a business acquisition?
- ponker 6y agoYou're not taking into account any of the strategic value to Microsoft. Like how they can integrate LI Sales Navigator into Dynamics to compete with Salesforce, etc.
- morvita 6y agoLynda.com was rebranded as "LinkedIn Learning" and is still around. My employer has access for all employees and I've taken a few good courses on there.