Microsoft is buying the professional networking website LinkedIn for just over $26bn (£18bn) in cash.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said he had long admired LinkedIn: “I have been thinking about this for a long time.”
The deal was “key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes”, he added.
The software giant will pay $196 a share.
The deal will help Microsoft boost sales of its business and email software.
Microsoft said that LinkedIn would retain its “distinct brand, culture and independence”
.LinkedIn will become a part of Microsoft’s productivity and business processes segment. LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner will report to Satya Nadella.
Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight, said the deal would give Microsoft access to the world’s biggest professional social network with more than 430 million members worldwide.
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