Salesforce Would Have Bid 'Much Higher' for LinkedIn
July 22 2016 - 10:05PM
Dow Jones News
By Rachael King
Salesforce.com Inc. Chief Executive Marc Benioff, who lost a
bidding war for LinkedIn Corp. to Microsoft Corp., told the social
networking company that he would have made a stronger bid had it
continued talks with him after its call for final offers. The
information appeared Friday in a LinkedIn regulatory filing.
Microsoft Corp. on June 13 said it would acquire LinkedIn for
$26.2 billion.
According to the filing, the CEO of "Party A" -- previously
identified by The Wall Street Journal as Salesforce -- sent an
email to LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and LinkedIn Chairman Reid
Hoffman after reading a July 1 regulatory filing that detailed
events leading up to LinkedIn's May 12 call to the two bidders for
"best and final offers," and its subsequent agreement to negotiate
exclusively with Microsoft.
Mr. Benioff's email said he would have offered a "much higher"
price and a different mix of cash and stock had LinkedIn continued
to communicate with his company.
LinkedIn said in the filing that it received its last offer from
Salesforce on June 5, after it had signed the exclusivity
agreement. The social networking company noted that the bid didn't
include a higher price or a different mix of cash and stock than
Salesforce had offered previously. LinkedIn's Transactions
Committee reviewed the situation and decided not to respond,
according to the filing.
Persistent bidding by Salesforce during the two months before
LinkedIn's agreement to negotiate exclusively with Microsoft
ultimately raised the price of the deal by 22%, or $5 billion.
Write to Rachael King at rachael.king@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 22, 2016 21:50 ET (01:50 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024