HN Explorer

Why did Microsoft acquire LinkedIn?

3 points by ninju ↗ HN
It's been 10+ years since Microsoft acquired LinkedIn (June 2016) and I'm still curious what was going on in the MS executive board that drove them to that decision.

Microsoft is primarily a software company and does have a social media presence (unlike Google or Meta).

I haven't seen any large synergies come out of the acquisition either, maybe the subscriber data is useful somewhere but I don't see it.

Just curious

8 comments

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bediger4000
As a Linux user, I assumed it was to embrace, extend, and extinguish. Gradually make LinkedIn work only with Windows and gradually force all seekers of new professional jobs to use Windows. In 2016, you basically had to have your resume in Word format, so they were halfway there.
PaulHoule
That's not what happened though.

I mean, Microsoft wanted to take over the world with Windows in the 1990s but today with Azure they are happy to sell you an instance with Windows or an instance with whatever Linux you like. It's not clear at this point that Microsoft takes products like Windows or Office seriously in 2026 except as places to stuff in Microsoft Copilot.

fuzzfactor
Didn't feel like they had anything better to do at the time?
PaulHoule
I am not one to complain about moderation decisions but I wish I could revive laruss5's comment from the [dead] status. I mean, he's right.

Back in the mid 2010's my biz dev guy and I practically lived inside LinkedIn, it was one of the best resources for enterprise sales that there was and LinkedIn was making money hand over fist serving that market.

YCandHNsuck
This site sucks. The community is bad. The moderators are miserable. The companies are scams.
Blackstrat
LinkedIn has degraded considerably since the Microsoft acquisition. It’s hardly better than Facebook now. I dropped my premium subscription several years ago. I can get Trump sucks memes anywhere. It’s harder to find and cultivate business contacts.
SanjayMehta
Right now LinkedIn is locking out users and asking them to submit to a video id check, along with a copy of their driving licenses. The beneficiary is a company called Persona. I would not be surprised if the latter is also a microsoft entity, and is benefiting from that data.

They locked me out when I changed my profile picture, and started deleting posts and comments prior to deleting the account itself.