For Microsoft, CRA economists advised on the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in Europe and the US. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared the transaction and the EC cleared the deal subject to conditions to address potential concerns in “professional social networking” (PSN). Our analysis considered the parties’ ability and incentive to foreclose third-party suppliers of CRM solutions by restricting the availability of LinkedIn’s (sales intelligence) products, or tying/bundling them with Microsoft’s productivity assets.
The analysis considered the parties’ ability and incentive to foreclose third-party suppliers of CRM solutions by restricting the availability of LinkedIn’s (sales intelligence) products, or tying/bundling them with Microsoft’s productivity assets. It also considered the potential for LinkedIn’s data to confer an “unassailable advantage” when combined with Microsoft’s “machine learning” capabilities. As “anticompetitive foreclosure” was extremely improbable, the EC dropped its initial concerns in this segment entirely. Competing PSN providers also alleged that the integration of LinkedIn functionalities into Microsoft’s Windows and Office products would have undermined their ability to compete – as the transaction would have enabled deeper integration of LinkedIn within Microsoft’s productivity assets. An undertaking was agreed to resolve the matter in Phase I.
CRA also assisted the parties in estimating market shares for advertising and recruitment solutions for 20+ Member States, as well as in analysing multi-homing and user engagement data at national levels.
Further information on the case can be found here.
