Bidding from Salesforce pushed Microsoft to raise its offer for LinkedIn
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Loading... - GRAHAM DAVIES
- 03 Jul 2020
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Persistent bidding from Salesforce.com Inc. forced Microsoft Corp. to boost its offer for LinkedIn Corp. 22%, or roughly $5 billion, during the two months of negotiations, according to a regulatory filing by the professional social network and a person with knowledge of the matter.
The software giant MSFT, -0.02% ultimately agreed to buy LinkedIn LNKD, +0.13% last month for $26.2 billion, or $196 a share in cash.
That was a 50% premium over LinkedIn’s stock price before the deal’s announcement.
A Securities and Exchange Commission filing by LinkedIn on Friday disclosed that Microsoft submitted on May 4 a nonbinding indication of interest to acquire LinkedIn at $160 a share in cash. Nine days earlier, another company, described by LinkedIn as “Party A,” submitted its own nonbinding indication of interest to buy the company for $160 to $165 a share in a mix of cash and stock.
The Wall Street Journal and other publications previously reported Salesforce CRM, +0.53% was the second bidder for LinkedIn.
The person familiar with the matter confirmed Salesforce is Party A.
The bid from Salesforce put pressure on Microsoft to boost its offer several times.
Even after LinkedIn entered an arrangement to negotiate with Microsoft exclusively, Salesforce persisted on pushing its bid.
And as its stock price climbed, the value of its offer grew as well, leading LinkedIn executives to press Microsoft for more money.
