$26 Billion "Premium" Partnership to Change the Way the World Works.

Since its inception in April 4, 1975, when it was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, Microsoft has remained and maintained its lead as the indisputable king of the software industry with fierce rivalry from Apple's iOS as the second, and Android (desktop OS) trailing them. Keeping the lead is not sufficient enough.

For a corporation as huge (in revenue and the clients it service) as Microsoft, it needs to keep reinventing itself to catch up with evolving trends and standards in order to retain its market share and not be left behind in the long run. In doing this, it not only needs to design new products, or redesign mainstream products (Widows OS) as observed with its "Windows 10" operating system, it also needs to etch its dominance by teaming up with reputable social and professional media brands like Linkedin (see Microsoft and LinkedIn: Together Changing the Way the World Works) to change the way the world works.

As a prophesy come true according to the last paragraph in my last published article: Unconventional Financial Matrimony: Emerging Investment Practices in Cyberspace,  Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion Deal, for $196 per LinkedIn share, a 50% premium to Friday’s close. Partnerships like this one between Microsoft and LinkedIn (Matured Corporation and Emerging Corporation) will soon become a norm in the global business environment, where "new thinking and metemorphic business practices" of emerging corporations will be the catalysing agents of the much older generational corporations. Where this new trend not only applies to Microsoft, it will benefit immensely from this new acquisition (the largest acquisition in its history), by riding on the networking giant's established stride to: as quoted by Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, "deliver a needed jolt to its own (Microsoft's) software offerings by connecting them with the professional social network".

The deal, as reported by Wall Street Journal, is Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella’s latest effort to revitalize his company, which was viewed not long ago as left behind by shifts in technology. It further reported that Mr. Nadella hopes the deal will open new horizons for Microsoft’s Office suite as well as LinkedIn, both of which have saturated their markets, and generally bolster Microsoft’s revenue and competitive position.

Its is my opinion that emerging trends like this one would be much needed in revitalising the slowing economies of Asia (at 5.7 percent in 2016 and 2017, decelerating from 5.9 percent in 2015) and other developing economies in the west and that of Africa (sliding to 2.9 per cent this year, down from 3.5 per cent last year). 

Tosin Adebayo: Financial & Investment Banking Analyst (TMT | M&A | Real Estate)