Microsoft $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn

Overview:

• Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn in a $26.2 billion deal.
• This is the biggest single deal in Microsoft history.
• Microsoft paid $196 per share for the professional social network.
• LinkedIn shares rose 47% immediately following the acquisition announcement.
• Current LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will remain in place under Microsoft management.
• Microsoft raised $19.75 billion in a bond issue to finance the acquisition on August 1st, its largest debt issue ever and the third largest corporate bond sale of the year.
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Alan Klein, Anthony Vernace, Bill Brentani, Joyce Yu) advised Microsoft.
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (Martin Korman, Bradley Finkelstein, Katharine Martin, Douglas Schnell) advised LinkedIn.
• Davis Polk & Wardwell (Alan Denenberg) advised LinkedIn's financial adviser Qatalyst Partners.

Kurt Stumpo - Journalist - North America and the Caribbean