Why I'm Bullish on Microsoft's LinkedIn Acquisition

At one time in the past, I was seen as an adversary to Microsoft. They were the defining company of the proprietary software era; I was one of the leading advocates for open source software.  That's ancient history. I'm now a huge fan of Microsoft and their vision for the industry. Last year, when I launched my Next:Economy Summit, Satya Nadella was the first executive I asked to speak, and we had a two hour brainstorm about the key idea of what I've called "the Next Economy," in which technology is not used to destroy jobs, but to augment and enable humans to do what was previously impossible.

"Creating economic opportunity will be the defining issue of our time. That's why I'm here and why I can't imagine doing any other job. Simply put, what we do matters" -Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn

Jeff Weiner's post about the Microsoft-LinkedIn acquisition so closely echoes the themes of the private conversation I had with Satya well over a year ago (and our on-stage conversation at the Next:Economy Summit) that I know this isn't PR but deeply held conviction on both sides.

 Jeff wrote:

"While [realizing our mission and vision] has always been top of mind for me, it’s never been more so than now. Remember that dystopian view of the future in which technology displaces millions of people from their jobs? It's happening. In the last three weeks alone, Foxconn announced it will replace 60,000 factory workers with robots, a former CEO of McDonald’s said given rising wages, the same would happen throughout their franchises, Walmart announced plans to start testing drones in its warehouses, and Elon Musk predicted fully autonomous car technology would arrive within two years.

"Whether it's worker displacement, the skills gap, youth unemployment, or socio-economic stratification, the impact on society will be staggering. I’ve said it on multiple occasions and believe it even more so every day: creating economic opportunity will be the defining issue of our time. That's why I'm here and why I can't imagine doing any other job. Simply put, what we do matters, and matters more than ever....

"When Satya first proposed the idea of acquiring LinkedIn, he said it was absolutely essential that we had alignment on two things: Purpose and structure. On the former, it didn’t take long before the two of us realized we had virtually identical mission statements. For LinkedIn, it was to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful, and for Microsoft it was to empower every individual and organization in the world to achieve more."

My co-host for this year's event, Reid Hoffman (who is also, of course, the founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn) echoed this same idea:

"Great companies have great missions. LinkedIn’s mission has never wavered. Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. As a professional, your network is your competitive advantage: in skills, in intelligence, in opportunities, in connection, and in collaboration. In this networked age, it is the key advantage. When you marry our mission with Microsoft’s mission, to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, it’s impossible to not imagine the massive opportunity"

I can attest that both of these great companies are focused on that vision, and am so supportive of this next step for both companies!

P.S. Here's Satya Nadella talking about these themes at last year's Next:Economy Summit:

(This year's event will be held October 10-11 at San Francisco's Westin St. Francis hotel.)