EU Clears $26 Billion Microsoft-LinkedIn Deal
06 Décembre 2016 - 5:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Natalia Drozdiak
BRUSSELS--The European Union on Tuesday approved Microsoft's $26
billion acquisition of LinkedIn Corp., after the software giant
agreed to safeguards to assuage antitrust concerns.
The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said it was
clearing the deal on the condition that, post-merger, Microsoft
allowed other professional networking sites access to its Office
programs for the next five years and granted computer manufacturers
the option not to install the LinkedIn shortcut on desktop
devices.
In addition, the EU said Microsoft must allow rival networks
access to Microsoft Graph, a program used to build applications
that can tap data in the Microsoft cloud.
"A growing number of Europeans subscribe to professional social
networks. Today's decision ensures that Europeans will continue to
enjoy a freedom of choice between professional social networks,"
said EU antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager.
Microsoft announced its deal with LinkedIn in June.
"We've now obtained all the regulatory approvals needed to
complete the acquisition and the deal will close in the coming
days," Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said in a blog
post.
To win EU approval, Microsoft also agreed to allow rival social
networks to access Office's application programming interfaces,
which allow discrete programs to communicate with each another.
Among other things, the measures proposed by Microsoft will
allow for the display of profiles from sites other than LinkedIn in
a calendar entry of a meeting.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 06, 2016 11:30 ET (16:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Linkedin Corp. Class A (NYSE:LNKD)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juil 2024 à Juil 2024
Linkedin Corp. Class A (NYSE:LNKD)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juil 2023 à Juil 2024