LinkedIn Corp

Microsoft (MSFT) and Adobe (ADBE) have teamed up to strengthen their marketing software businesses.

Salesforce.com is a leader in the customer relationship management industry. The company has built its moat on the back of its network effect and strong brand.

Salesforce.com (CRM) posted its fiscal 1Q18 numbers on May 18. It announced revenue of $2.39 billion—higher than analysts’ estimate of $2.35 billion.

Salesforce’s acquisition spree Earlier in this series, we discussed Salesforce’s (CRM) recent acquisition of Sequence. We also looked at why companies such as Salesforce and IBM (IBM) are increasingly drawn towards the digital agency space. Of late, Salesforce has been on an acquisition spree. Since 2006, Salesforce has made 44 acquisitions, according to Crunchbase. In the past […]

AppDynamics has managed to grow 50% on an annual basis. Moreover, 75% of AppDynamics customers make purchases based on a subscription-based model.

With its huge cash reserves, Microsoft (MSFT) would be one of the top beneficiaries of President Trump’s proposed tax reductions.

Since 2011, nearly 140 private companies related to AI technologies have been acquired with more than 40 acquisitions taking place in 2016 alone.

Last week, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Simplygon in the AR (augmented reality) space.

On the insistence of its shareholders, Salesforce has backed away from its prior decision to buy Twitter (TWTR).

Salesforce continued its spree in December 2016 with its acquisition of Twin Prime, a startup focused on machine learning.

Salesforce pioneered SaaS, and since its launch, Salesforce has developed an impressive mix of cloud-based offerings.

IBM’s acquisitions to boost Watson Since its inception, IBM (IBM) has been betting heavily on Watson, its cognitive computing platform, to steer the company toward much-needed growth. As expected, Watson was IBM’s highlight in 2016 and is expected to be in 2017 as well. Considering IBM’s acquisitions to equip Watson in the healthcare space, namely […]

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google and Amazon (AMZN) are going for each other’s jugular in the home automation systems market.

Calendar 2016 marks the second year on record in which tech deals accounted for the majority of M&As. Prior to 2016, 2000 saw the highest number of deals.

As Facebook (FB) has avoided selling ads on WhatsApp, it could use facial recognition technology from FacioMetrics to make the app more attractive for paid business-to-customer communication.

Salesforce (CRM) reported fiscal 3Q17 adjusted earnings per share of $0.24, ahead of the consensus of $0.21.

Salesforce’s interest in Twitter was driven by interest in the social media space. But opposition from shareholders led Salesforce to back away.

In fiscal 1Q17, Microsoft’s gross margin stood at ~61.7%, as compared to ~64.7% in fiscal 1Q16. Intelligent Cloud contributed ~34% to total revenues.

The Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund Investor Class (HCAIX) has had a terrible 2016. It’s the second-worst performer YTD among the 12 funds in this review.

Eweek.com stated that Microsoft held 15% share of global enterprise SaaS revenues, while Salesforce held 14% in 2Q16.

The expected growth in SaaS explains the rising competition and the rise in acquisitions by leading players in the space.

Another factor in Salesforce’s opposition to the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal is data. LinkedIn’s acquisition would provide Microsoft with access to large data sets,

In response to the antitrust issues raised by Salesforce, the European Union’s competiton chief stated that she would “keep a close eye on how companies use that data.”

On September 30, 2016, Salesforce again made the news when it raised objections about the deal between Microsoft (MSFT) and LinkedIn (LNKD).

Twitter trades at lower multiples than its peers Earlier in this series, we discussed rumors of Twitter’s (TWTR) possible acquisition and how Salesforce (CRM), Google (GOOG), and The Walt Disney Company (DIS) could be contenders. In this part, we’ll compare Twitter’s value proposition with that of other companies in the social media space. As of […]

Twitter’s ad revenue growth is slowing down Earlier in this series, we discussed Salesforce’s (CRM), Google’s (GOOG), and The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS) interest in Twitter (TWTR). We also learned that it is the movement of advertising dollars towards the social media space that has put Twitter in the limelight. Twitter’s primary source of revenue […]

Twitter could be a viable alternative Earlier in this series, we discussed ongoing rumors of Twitter (TWTR) becoming a part of Salesforce (CRM). In 2012, Salesforce entered into a partnership with Twitter, under which the latter was feeding data related to social media into Salesforce’s analytics systems. Twitter is not the first social media company […]

Earlier in the series, we discussed the concerns T. Rowe Price has raised in regards to Oracle’s (ORCL) buyout of NetSuite.

Oracle’s SaaS (software-as-a-service) and PaaS (platform) revenues grew 48% to ~$2.8 billion in fiscal 2016, as compared to ~$1.9 billion in fiscal 2015.

So far in 2016, we’ve seen several acquisitions in the cloud space, and these deals indicate growing competition and consolidation.

Oracle is scheduled to report its fiscal 1Q17 results on September 16. Analysts expect revenues and non-GAAP EPS to be $8.7 billion and $0.58, respectively.

Much like Google (GOOG), Facebook has remained successful in capitalizing on the user shift to mobile.

In May, Microsoft announced that it would be closing its MSN Chinese web portal in June to focus on providing software and services for Windows 10 devices.

The Apollo Global-Rackspace (RAX) deal is the latest deal indicating the growing interest of PE firms in the technology space.

The BeyondCore acquisition is likely to fuel the competition between Salesforce and Microsoft.

By adding BeyondCore to its portfolio, Salesforce aims to strengthen its CRM offerings with predictive data analytics and AI capabilities.

According to Gartner’s recent research report the CRM space, Salesforce continues to lead with a 19.7% market share.

Microsoft (MSFT) issued Aaa/AAA rated high-grade bonds worth $19.8 billion through seven parts on August 1, 2016.

Salesforce’s Quip acquisition is symbiotic to both the companies.

Looking at Oracle’s recent bond deal and its cash reserves, it won’t come as a surprise if Oracle announces more acquisitions after NetSuite.

Facebook’s (FB) mobile ad revenues are primarily driven by increased number of users and brand marketers on its platform.

The Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund Investor Class has tanked by 3.5% YTD in 2016, making it the second-worst performer YTD among our 12 funds.

Facebook’s (FB) mobile monthly active users (or MAUs) constitute about 91.5% of its total MAUs, which stood at 1.65 billion in 1Q16.

In the last year, Microsoft’s stock has risen by ~17%. However, since early 2016, it has exhibited volatility.

Microsoft (MSFT) is scheduled to release its fiscal 4Q16 and 2016 earnings after the Market closes on July 19, 2016. For fiscal 4Q16, Estimize expects Microsoft to report revenue of $22.1 billion.

IBM announced its partnership with Cisco in late June 2016. It will enable both companies to develop a suite of cloud-based workplace tools and apps.

On June 29, 2016, Oracle (ORCL) announced a bond sale of $14 billion. The company’s investment-grade bond sale is split among five tranches.

Microsoft holds $108.3 billion worth of earnings overseas, which accounts for 4.7% of the total overseas cash held by S&P 500 companies.

According to Rodman & Renshaw’s Raghuram Selvaraju, Valeant’s underlying assets are not fairly valued by the market and the company is capable of making a turnaround.

LinkedIn generates a major portion of its revenue from the Talent Solutions segment, which accounted for 65% of the total revenue in 1Q16.

Microsoft (MSFT) announced the acquisition of LinkedIn (LNKD) for $26.2 billion in cash on June 13, 2016.

LinkedIn’s major business division, Talent Solutions, faces macro headwinds in the EMEA and APAC regions.

LinkedIn has been focusing on sponsored content and shifting away from display ads to sponsored updates.

Earlier in 2016, Cisco completed the acquisition of European video conferencing startup Acano for $700 million in cash.

Social media platform Twitter (TWTR) is going through its toughest phase since its launch in July 2006. Twitter’s issues include a volatile stock price, stagnating user growth, the departure of key executives, and core product issues.

Slack is an enterprise workforce collaboration application and could be the next acquisition target for Microsoft.

On June 16, 2016, Microsoft announced that it acquired Wand Labs, a messaging app developer.

Before Microsoft made an offer of $26.2 billion for LinkedIn, Salesforce had submitted a bid for the company.

Microsoft’s offer follows the current trend of massive acquisitions in the software space.

LinkedIn’s stock, which traded at $269 in February 2015, fell to one of its lows of $101.11 in February 2016.

After Microsoft’s announcement, LinkedIn’s stock rose 47% to $192.21 while Microsoft’s stock fell 2.6% to $50.14 on June 13, 2016.

Microsoft plans to fund the $26.2 billion LinkedIn acquisition with debt. This naturally raises a question about a change in rating for Microsoft.

With LinkedIn under its umbrella, Microsoft will get immediate social graph access without going through the pain of designing and developing it.

Microsoft primarily generates its cloud revenues from Office 365, Dynamics CRM, and Azure, its cloud-computing platform.

On June 13, 2016, Microsoft (MSFT) announced its plans to acquire LinkedIn (LNKD) for $26.2 billion in cash, its largest acquisition to date.

The chance of regulators blocking the transaction is pretty low given that LinkedIn (LNKD) and Microsoft (MSFT) don’t compete directly.

Microsoft paid a 50% premium to LinkedIn’s June 10 closing price. At 7.5x revenues and 75x EBITDA, Microsoft is paying a lot. LinkedIn is a unique property.

For LinkedIn (LNKD) and Microsoft (MSFT), the gating item should be the SEC’s approval of the proxy statement. Regulators might take a closer look.

Microsoft (MSFT) is buying LinkedIn (LNKD) for $196 per share in cash. The companies are guiding for an end of 2016 close.

LinkedIn will be a standalone entity within Microsoft. This transaction is part of Microsoft’s plan to focus on cloud-based offerings. It wants to rely less on PCs.

On June 13, Microsoft (MSFT) announced a deal to buy professional social networking firm LinkedIn (LNKD) for $23.9 billion in cash.

WhatsApp’s strong presence in direct messaging and international markets makes it a highly strategic investment for Facebook (FB).

With more than 400 million monthly active users (or MAU), Instagram now has 200,000 advertisers.

Facebook’s mobile monthly active users (or MAUs) constitute 91.5% of total MAUs, which stood at 1.7 billion in 1Q16.

On average, Facebook outperformed the consensus estimate in the trailing four quarters by 11.8% thanks to its strong advertising revenues.

Facebook (FB) recently extended the capabilities of its audience network to support more promotional videos.

The Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund (FBGRX) fell 4.6% in 1Q16. Its one-year returns were -3.9%, placing it among the bottom three funds under review.

Oracle Cloud at Customer is Oracle’s focus on providing companies’ CIOs with enterprise software deployment choices.

According to 451 Research, ~42% of mobile apps projects are controlled by business managers or marketing teams, rather than by corporate IT departments.

As of March 21, 2016, Twitter (TWTR) has generated returns of -67.1% for the trailing 12 months and -7.8% in the trailing-one-month period.

Morgan Stanly downgraded LinkedIn from “overweight” to “equal-weight” on March 16, and on March 17, its stock fell by 4.6% for the trailing-five-day period.

In December 2015, LinkedIn (LNKD) entered the era of mobile communications with its revamped Project Voyager app, which was designed to streamline the user experience and user interface.

During the recent quarter, LinkedIn (LNKD) announced the acquisition of Connectifier, a startup that helps recruiters find talent.

LinkedIn (LNKD) invests aggressively in Sponsored Updates, with the aim of incorporating additional functionalities and streamlining the process of targeting ads for the marketers.

The leading professional networking site, LinkedIn (LNKD) is finding it difficult to keep its stock price up since it announced its 4Q15 earnings. The company’s shares have seen a significant fall of 43% to a three-year-plus low of $102.90.

Adobe’s (ADBE) successful switch to a web-based subscription model from traditional licensed software has benefitted its share price.

The increasing popularity of Instagram among US teens resulted in the declining attractiveness of Facebook for this demographic.

Facebook (FB) is engaging more and more users with its set of features such as groups, events, and pages.

Due to its diversified business model and double-digit growth in billings and revenues, Palo Alto Networks stock has had a successful run in 2015. But 2016 didn’t start out very well.

Though Splunk continued to report double-digit growth in its revenues, its GAAP loss continues to be a source of concern for investors.

Until last year, Twitter managed to increase its revenue per user despite its user growth declining.

As of February 24, 2016, Twitter (TWTR) has generated returns of -62.9% for the trailing 12 months (or TTM) and -5.8% in the trailing-one-month period.

The Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund – Investor Class (HCAIX) had $25.1 billion worth of assets under management at the end of January 2016.

In 2016, Salesforce stock has shed close to 30% of its value. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, Salesforce stock fell by ~13% in January 2016.

Tableau Software’s (DATA) and LinkedIn’s (LNKD) issuance of weaker-than-expected guidance for 2016 caused technology stocks to fall like a ton of bricks in February 2016.

In early February 2016, Fortinet’s stock and that of its peers showed volatility, falling on February 5 with Palo Alto, FireEye, CyberArk, and Proofpoint.

Viacom (VIAB) reported its fiscal 1Q16 results on February 9, 2016. The company reported revenues of $3.2 billion, a decline of 6% over fiscal 1Q15.

On February 4, 2016, LinkedIn (LNKD) announced its 4Q15 results and reported revenues of $862 million, a rise of 34% YoY (year-over-year). Revenues for 2015 also rose 35% YoY to $3.0 billion.

On February 4, 2016, Tableau Software (DATA) announced its 4Q15 results. Tableau reported revenues of $202.8 million, a rise of 42% year-over-year.

Out of 43 analysts covering LinkedIn’s stock, 37 have issued “buy” recommendations, and six have issued “hold” recommendations.