What made LinkedIn to sell itself to Microsoft? What’s going to happen to 10,000 odd employees? Will there be retrenchment? Will Microsoft allow the LinkedIn leadership to act independently?
These were some of the many questions that tormented majority of 10,000 employees of the professional networking site and scores of its users as soon as the news of Microsoft acquiring it for $26.2 billion hit the headlines.
Jeff Weiner, Chief Executive Officer, wasted no time in clearing the air. In a well written letter, he explained why they took the decision to sell it off. He related how disruptive technologies are automating processes and jobs being taken over by bots. He assures the staff that there would be no retrenchment and no change in the way they are reporting to their respective bosses.
Under Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn team grew to 10,000 people now from 338 about eight years ago. The membership base grew to 433 million from 32 million and revenues to $3 billion from $78 million during the period.
“Massively scaling the reach and engagement of LinkedIn by using the network to power the social and identity layers of Microsoft's ecosystem of over one billion customers and tapping its Outlook, Windows, Skype, Cortana and Bing,” he observes.
“Imagine a world where we're not pressured to compromise on long-term investment, hesitant to disrupt ourselves, or hamstrung in the way we can reward and acquire new talent due to stock price concerns,” he says.
He sees no threat to his independence to operate the firm. He says he could operate LinkedIn as a fully independent entity within Microsoft just like the way YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp are being allowed to run independently by their respective acquirers.
Assurance “Given our ability to operate independently, little is expected to change: You'll have the same title, the same manager, and the same role you currently have,” he assures.
The one exception could be for those whose jobs are entirely focused on maintaining LinkedIn's status as a publicly traded company.
“We'll be helping you find your next play. In terms of everything else, it should be business as usual. We have the same mission and vision; we have the same culture and values; and I’m still the CEO of LinkedIn,” he concludes.