Microsoft To Buy LinkedIn: Reports

MOUNTAIN VIEW - Microsoft will buy Mountain View-based LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion in cash, in a deal announced Monday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will pay $196 per LinkedIn share in the deal, a 50 percent premium to Friday's closing share price.

CNBC commentator Jim Kramer gave some insight into the purchase:

Bloomberg says LinkedIn will retain its brand, culture and independence and Jeff Weiner will remain chief executive officer of the company.

LinkedIn announced their excitement of the merger, posting a blog entitled Microsoft and LinkedIn: Together Changing the Way the World Works on its website.

The entire SEC filing detailing the merger can be read with this link.

The full Bloomberg article is here.

You can read the full Wall Street Journal article here, but a subscription is necessary.

-image via Sylvain Kalache/Flickr