LinkedIn Is Performing Well Under Microsoft's Umbrella, CEO Says

Microsoft Corporation MSFT paid more than $26 billion in late 2016 to acquire LinkedIn and, although the integration remains ongoing, the tie-up is exceeding expectations, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said during a TV appearance. 

What Happened

Since being acquired by Microsoft, LinkdeIn's business has shown not only top-line acceleration, but engagement that's at record levels, Weiner said during an interview with CNBC on Thursday. Revenue is "accelerating" at a pace that hasn't been seen since LinkedIn's 2011 IPO, despite the company being 10 times the size today that it was seven years ago. Leveraging Microsoft's massive footprint certainly has helped LinkedIn grow since the acquisition, Weiner said. 

Why It's Important

Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn gives it the opportunity to add "even greater value" to the platform's more than 540 million users by offering its legacy products and services, Weiner said.

"Taking that social fabric and being able to leverage that across not only Outlook but the entire Office suite is really potentially powerful," he said.

What's Next

Moving forward, LinkedIn plans to leverage its talent analytics capabilities to "help employers think proactively about their workforce strategy — how they can train or retrain their current workforce to take advantage of current technologies," Weiner said. 

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