EU Approves Proposed Acquisition Of LinkedIn By Microsoft

(RTTNews) - The European Commission said it has approved proposed acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). The decision is conditional on compliance with a series of commitments aimed at preserving competition between professional social networks in Europe.

As a result, the company has now obtained all of the regulatory approvals needed to complete the acquisition, and the deal will close in the coming days, Microsoft said.

The approval in Brussels follows similar reviews and clearances in the United States, Canada, Brazil and South Africa.

As part of discussions with the European Commission, Microsoft formalized several commitments regarding Microsoft's support for third-party professional social networking services.

Microsoft has committed that for the next five years it will continue to make Office Add-in program available to third-party professional social networking services. The Office Add-in program enables developers to integrate their services into Microsoft Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, providing users an enhanced experience using Office. It will continue to make promotional opportunities in the Office Store available to third-party professional social networking services.

Microsoft will ensure that IT administrators and users can customize their Office experience by choosing whether to display in the user interface the LinkedIn profile and activity information that may be integrated in the future.

If Microsoft develop a LinkedIn application or a tile for Windows PCs and include it in Windows, Microsoft will allow PC manufacturers to choose not to install them on their Windows PCs in the European Economic Area, or EEA. Similarly, Microsoft will ensure that users can uninstall the application and tile if they wish. Microsoft also won't use Windows itself to prompt users to install a LinkedIn application, although it can remain available in the Windows Store and be promoted in other ways.

In the EEA Microsoft won't enter into agreements with PC manufacturers for pre-installation of a Windows LinkedIn application or tile that would favor LinkedIn on an exclusive basis and thereby bar the distribution of competing professional social networking services.

Microsoft said in June that it agreed to buy LinkedIn Corp. for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LinkedIn's net cash.