Examination of Microsoft’s latest Acquisition &series of previous acquisitions

The Economist. (2016, June 18th). Technology deals: LinkedUp, Retrieved July 20th, 2017, from https://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21700605-it-one-most-expensive-tech-deals-history-it-may-not-be-smartest-making- sense The article for this portfolio task is an examination of Microsoft’s latest acquisition, the purchase of LinkedIn, as well as a series of previous acquisitions. The author(s) examine the deal from multiple sides: from the purchase price (which they deem excessive) and from the possible synergies, which are many. LinkedIn is in possession of the largest professional network and data on employees in the world. The article also explores Microsoft’s not so stellar success in integrating previous acquisitions – Nokia, Skype and aQuantive, none of which redirected Microsoft’s business or opened a path to new markets, at least not to the extent that was expected. This might be the reason why LinkedIn is so far planned remain separate, although it is clear that Microsoft has big plans and a vision for what the future of the two companies will be. And that bring us to your task. No one knows what the future will bring, but we invite you to write your vision of how the future of the Microsoft/LinkedIn partnership will look. Prepare a presentation in which you: • Outline and critically apprise your visions of how the LinkedIn network and Microsoft products can integrate and analyse what strategies and forms of partnership can be pursued in this integration (LO3) • Critically assess the chances of success of these strategies in light of Microsoft’s past record (LO2) The presentation should take a form of narration, Required length 1,600 words of voice-over narration. The presentation itself can be into bullet points headinss follow with narration. Harvard style referencing is required. (While we expect you to present your own opinion and your own ideas, we encourage you also to base your vision on statistical data, opinions of journalists and researchers, as well as Microsoft’s own releases.)