Salesforce looked at buying LinkedIn before Microsoft: Report
Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO
Microsoft wasn't the only bidder for LinkedIn.
Bloomberg reports Salesforce, the popular CRM giant, was in a bidding war to buy the company, and Microsoft came out victorious at $26.2 billion, as we learned earlier this week.
The report says Microsoft had been watching LinkedIn as a potential acquisition, however didn't approach the company until executive chairman Reid Hoffman and CEO Jeff Weiner told Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, that another company was making a bid.
Salesforce was advised by Goldman Sachs. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff confirmed to Recode: "We gave it a solid look," he said of LinkedIn. "We are always looking to help our customers in new ways."Microsoft and Salesforce denied request for comment.
Recode reports the price and how Salesforce would integrate into the company are why an acquisition didn't go through.