It has been a few months since Microsoft announced its intention to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. Deals as big as this require a lot of time to through the various legal and regulatory hurdles that stand in the way. All of that is now over for this particular deal as it has now been confirmed that Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn has been closed. The professional social network is officially a part of Microsoft now.
It has taken Microsoft six months to formally close its deal with LinkedIn. The European Commission put up one of the last regulatory hurdles that the company had to clear before it could officially close the deal.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has outlined some of the steps that will be taken to integrate LinkedIn with the company’s services. These include the integration of LinkedIn identity and network in Microsoft’s Office and Outlook suite, enabling LinkedIn notifications inside Windows action center, expanding Sponsored Content reach to other Microsoft properties and more.
LinkedIn members drafting resumes in Word will be able to update their profiles, search for and apply to jobs via LinkedIn. Microsoft will also develop a business news desk across its content ecosystem and MSN.com. LinkedIn Learning will become available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem.