![]() ![]() The company’s 2014 acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone assets was intended to create added value by combining these hardware assets with Microsoft’s software and services. Perhaps Microsoft is not touting the value-creation potential of a strategic remix because it has just come off a big failure with that model. Investors can be excused for being puzzled at the numbers. Beyond that, there are vague tech-speak promises of how LinkedIn’s social network might help Microsoft’s enterprise businesses. The only numbers we have so far is that the companies expect $150 million in annual savings by 2018. Possibly, but the concrete synergies are hard to see, especially considering the $9 billion premium that Microsoft is paying over LinkedIn’s market value as of last week. Is this what Microsoft and LinkedIn are doing? In this model, the acquired assets and capabilities are combined with existing assets to generate new business or to save costs. One type of acquisition is the strategic remix. I see three possibilities, each with its own rationale and trajectory. ![]() One reason for the uncertainty is that we don’t know yet what kind of acquisition this is. Precisely how consequential and in what way is still a puzzle to observers. Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn is big and bold - and likely to be consequential. By Ben Gomes-Casseres | Originally in HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW |
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