According to Various Research Reports,
Microsoft envisions the acquisition as a way to better serve professionals today, as current productivity among individuals and within an organization are both hampered with a significant amount of data stuck in various siloes. Some ways that Microsoft hopes to tackle the problem with the acquisition is by integrating the social network into pieces of software in the PBP segment such as Dynamics CRM or Office. The data could also provide a boost to Microsoft?s AI assistant Cortana in providing more accurate recognition of business contacts.
Microsoft and LinkedIn serve the same customer (business professionals), the two have entirely different non-overlapping TAMs (total addressable market: $115bn for LinkedIn, $200bn for PBP segment) that the company is estimating the total opportunity at $315bn
LinkedIn could have clear value in improving various pieces of PBP software, such as the aforementioned integration of social features into CRM, and social data integrated into Skype or other communication software could also be helpful. However, it is still unclear to us how the integration of social features could enhance productivity in the other Office applications. While much of the focus appears to be on product, we also believe that the deal is also driven significantly by other operational and financial considerations.
