LinkedIn + Microsoft = Bye Bye LI

The recent acquisition of LinkedIn, the #1 professional networking platform, by Microsoft, #1 in many things, for $26BN was major news for a number of reasons.

1. Anything that Microsoft does is big news, especially when CEO Satya Nadella is directly and personally involved.
2. LinkedIn has many users, none more committed and passionate than yours truly, so anything affecting LI is news to me.
3. LI stock has taken a battering recently at the hands of analysts who punished the company for only growing at 10% vs the 53% growth it had recorded a year ago. This is one of the fundamental problems of Wall Street, and the idiots who run it. 10% growth in this economy is amazing. But instead of supporting LI, stock prices plummeted, thus opening the door to MS to come in and ‘white knight’ the company, paying a 50% premium while doing so.
4. Jeff Weiner, CEO LI, made several billion dollars, as did a few other people.

All newsworthy events.

However, I’m more conflicted today than I was when I heard about this a week ago. Here’s why:

1. While both companies have certain things in common – “platform”, “networking”, “empowering” & “connectivity” being among them – there appear to be a lot of superficial synergies (hate that word, it usually means jobs lost). Yes, closing the loop from a social networking standpoint makes sense for MS, but other than a LOT of money exchanging hands, it made little sense from LI’s standpoint. After all, given how polarizing a brand MS is, I’m not sure that a platform-agnostic brand like LI will benefit by aligning itself with Big Brother. Speaking as a long-time LI fan, I will take it very badly if LI starts pushing MS products in my face.
2. When a monstrously large company swallows a smaller one, the smaller one disappears. Oh, it may linger for a while, it may continue to go through the motions, but in reality, it’s in zombie mode. Employees at LI have to be wondering about their futures, the uncertainty has to be crushing. The reduction in Daily Pulse posts from the team at LI speaks volumes. That is just one external factor – internally, the machine has to be roiling with rumours, water cooler chats would be the norm, and company seniors would be under pressure to provide answers. You can read about Mr. Nadella waxing poetic about the “new delightful and intelligent experiences” that LI and MS will potentially deliver here... I’m not holding my breath. This sounds good but its just that – a sound bite.
3. The cultures of the two companies are different. I’m not saying that either is good or bad (OK, LI people tend to have more fun at work – at least the ones I’ve met – then MS people who tend to be serious people doing serious things.) As the integration moves forward, the fun-loving, energetic culture of LI will be assimilated in to the Borg collective that is MS. “Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.” (Read in cyborg voice for proper effect.)
4. The two brands stand for completely different things in the consumer's mind. The personality, values, heritage - everything is different. When a brand as large and well-established as MS takes over another brand, even one that is as well-defined as LI, there is bound to be a dilution in the latter. And let's face it, if there wasn't, why would MS be interested? 
5. LI’s dominance in the professional networking space is at a historical high, but at no point in the last 5-10 years can I see a bigger opportunity for another (dare I say it, better?) professional networking site to emerge. One without the spam, the phishing, the politics & personal posts, the maths quizzes and other BS. Oh, wait. I’m describing LI from 2008. Hmm. Any ideas on this, please share. I am up to invest in this myself.
6. Satya & Jeff represent different generations – digital immigrants vs digital natives. Once the euphoria of making $10 Bn wears off, Jeff may find himself wondering what exactly is going on as the LI that he built from scratch vanishes without trace in to the mass that is MS. Although to be fair, I’m not sure if that kind of euphoria ever wears off. He will probably be off doing the next big thing as his team – and his former customers – bid farewell to the platform formerly known as LinkedIn.
7. And last but not least - an acquisition done to placate Wall Street is one that is being done for the wrong reasons. What the heck do those guys know anyway? When did they ever build anything of value? For that matter, when did they ever build value for anyone but themselves anyway? 

As you can tell, I'm not sold on this deal, but I'd like to know what you think? Is this acquisition a good thing? Look forward to your thoughts. 

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Omar is a brand guy who hates seeing smaller but amazingly well-defined brands like LI vanish in to the abyss that brands like MS can represent. Is he naive? Probably. Could he have said no to $10 Bn? Probably not.