PhotoSEATTLE — Microsoft said on Monday it was acquiring LinkedIn in a $26.2 billion cash deal. The companies said Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and its controlling shareholder, had approved the deal, as did Jeff Weiner, the chief executive of LinkedIn. The companies said that Microsoft had agreed to pay $196 a share to buy LinkedIn, a business social networking site that has more than 400 million members globally. Mr. Weiner will remain chief executive of LinkedIn, which will operate as an independent brand, the companies said. “The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world’s professionals,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Source: New York Times June 13, 2016 12:48 UTC