On Monday, June 13th 2016, news broke that “LinkedIn has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Microsoft.” While we are still learning exactly what this means for us, as a collective group of LinkedIn members, we wanted to be the first to share the news with you in case you had not heard yet.
We remain open-minded and trust that LinkedIn will stick with its mission of “connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.”
From the beginning of LinkedIn’s inception, the company has led with a permanent beta mindset. The Start-Up of You, co-authored by LinkedIn’s co-founder and chairman Reid Hoffman, introduced me to the concept of permanent beta: being in a perpetual state of continuous learning. Each day we have the opportunity to learn more, do more, and grow more. We hope that the acquisition by Microsoft is a living example of this for LinkedIn and its 433+ million global membership base.
Every day, my team and I consult organizations and professionals one-to-one on how to use LinkedIn as a business tool. We are constantly asked, “How did you learn this?” “How do you keep up?” We are inside the tool every day. We notice when things change. We have alerts set to be notified when announcements are released about the company. We are connected with other experts around the world and we talk. While we do not always have the answers, it is our responsibility to keep you, our clients, our friends and our colleagues informed along the way.
In the last twenty-four hours, a few of you have asked if we are “nervous since LinkedIn is our primary focus.” Not for a second. We are excited. We are business consultants who dive in deep to our clients’ businesses. While LinkedIn is the platform through which we teach, we partner with individuals and teams on strategic levels; LinkedIn is a tool in our tool belt, in the same way we coach our clients to use it.
My team and I will keep our eyes and ears on the pulse of this announcement as we find out more. We believe this strategic partnership will only enhance all of our abilities to propel our businesses and careers.
Here is a brief clip of LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella making the announcement on the new partnership:
