Rival Bidding Forced Microsoft to Raise Its Offer for LinkedIn
July 01 2016 - 8:25PM
Dow Jones News
By Jay Greene
Persistent bidding from a rival, likely Salesforce.com Inc.,
forced Microsoft Corp. to boost its offer for LinkedIn Corp. by
22%, or roughly $5 billion, during the two months of negotiations,
according to a regulatory filing by the professional social
network.
The software giant ultimately agreed to buy LinkedIn 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 was the second bidder for LinkedIn.
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.
Microsoft, LinkedIn and Salesforce declined to comment.
Write to Jay Greene at Jay.Greene@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2016 20:10 ET (00:10 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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