With the single acquisition of LinkedIn, Microsoft has quickly gained the ability to fundamentally disrupt multiple segments of the enterprise applications marketplace. Microsoft is also making a “big bet” that the acquisition will also quickly revitalize various aspects of its own product portfolio and open new market opportunities for the company.

LinkedIn has built the biggest network of business professionals in the world with approximately 433 million members. Although it has also built a series of services to enable users to capitalize on the network, LinkedIn has not built tight integrations with specific software vendors (ISVs) to leverage its functionality in a seamless fashion. The Microsoft acquisition aims at changing this situation and making the LinkedIn interface even more important in the daily lives of business users.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in Sandhill.com about some of the market segments and competitors that will be affected by the acquisition.

LinkedIn Microsoft