Microsoft and LinkedIn: Is their marriage working?

Matt O'Brien, The Canadian Press</span>
Published Wednesday, January 31, 2018 5:30PM EST

It's been just over a year since Microsoft swallowed the career networking site LinkedIn. That's long enough to start asking: Was the US$27 billion deal worth it?

Critics warned at the time of the deal that Microsoft was overpaying for a declining business. Others argued that Microsoft's largest-ever acquisition fit into a strategy of building up the company's Office suite of workplace productivity products and its cloud-computing business.

Microsoft on Wednesday posted second-quarter revenue of US$28.92 billion, a 12 per cent increase over the prior year. LinkedIn's contribution to quarterly revenue was US$1.3 billion, the highest it's been since the acquisition closed in December 2016.

The company also reported a loss of US$6.3 billion, tying it to a US$13.8 billion tax charge for the new federal tax law signed in December.

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