Microsoft + LinkedIn = Facebook?

Microsoft Corporation MSFT's founder and board member Bill Gates is a big supporter of the company's $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn Corp LNKD. Speaking to Bloomberg, Gates suggested that the combination of Microsoft and LinkedIn will create a business network for the working world much like Facebook Inc FB did in the social world. Gates wants LinkedIn's user base to be able to say that the professional feed is a tool to better learn about their career, company or industry. "If we can make that as valuable as the Facebook feed is in the social world, that's huge value creation and that'll happen over a period of years," Gates said. Gates added that the combination of Microsoft and LinkedIn is greater than the sum of the individual parts. His comments were made after Microsoft's stock fell 2 percent after the deal was announced.