Why LinkedIn chose to be acquired by Microsoft

The decision to sell LinkedIn to Microsoft for $26.2 billion, announced Monday, came down to independence and resources, according to Jeff Weiner, chief executive of LinkedIn. In an email sent to staff, Weiner said he chose to sell the company in order to operate on a bigger scale and be able to invest in talent without concern over a dropping stock price. "Imagine a world where we're no longer looking up at Tech Titans such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, and wondering what it would be like to operate at their extraordinary scale -- because we're one of them," Weiner wrote. Weiner said he likes Microsoft, specifically, because he felt the two companies had similar mission statements and Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, offered his company 'independence' within Microsoft.

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