DHAKA: Microsoft is buying the professional networking website LinkedIn for just over $26bn in cash.

The software giant will pay $196 a share - a premium of almost 50% to Friday’s closing share price.

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’.

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.

‘That’s a valuable asset that can be deeply integrated with a number of Microsoft assets such as Office 365, Exchange and Outlook. That said, Microsoft has stated that the company will continue to operate as an independent business, so we'll have to see how deeply the integration occurs,’ Wood said, reports the BBC.

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said he had long admired LinkedIn, ‘I have been thinking about this for a long time’.

He added that the deal ‘is key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes. Think about it: How people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done and ultimately find success requires a connected professional world’.

BDST: 2126 HRS, JUN 13, 2016
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