Microsoft’s $26B LinkedIn Acquisition Finally Approved, MS Office Integration Planned

EU regulators finally gave Microsoft the green light with regards to its acquisition of LinkedIn, which cost the company $26 billion. Now, the maker of Windows OS is thinking about integrating the social media network into its products. Specifically, Microsoft wants LinkedIn to be linked to its MS Office suite and its Outlook email tool.

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella wrote a piece about his plans for the social media site for professionals, detailing the company’s goals for LinkedIn. Basically, the social network will be integrated into Microsoft’s productivity tools and even the notifications system of Windows 10 in order to help professionals build their network and expand their careers.

“Microsoft – inclusive of LinkedIn – can take steps to help people develop new skills online, find new jobs and easily connect and collaborate with colleagues,” the piece reads.

In terms of efficiency, these plans seem to be the right move for LinkedIn, especially since users essentially won’t have to go anywhere else in order to get several things done. For example, if a LinkedIn user wanted to update their profile, create a new CV, or put some minor touch-ups on certain details, they can do all of this without leaving MS Word.

Naturally, this all depends on how deep the integration will go since it could just as well be a form of extended notifications and uploads. Additionally, it would seem that the professional course program LinkedIn Learning will also be made available to users via Office 365, Digital Trend reports.

On that note, it would seem that not everyone is thrilled about the prospect of being connected to LinkedIn 24/7. The Verge pointed out that the notifications that users will be getting will be a “special kind of hell,” describing the experience as a constant reminder that there is much in a user’s professional life that has been neglected.