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​Microsoft is officially the proud owner of LinkedIn

The tech giant closes its $26.2 billion acquisition of the business social network.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
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After six months, Microsoft and LinkedIn finally seal the deal.

Microsoft

It's been a long time coming: Microsoft now officially owns LinkedIn.

The two companies said on Thursday that their acquisition deal had closed. This comes six months after news broke that Microsoft was planning to throw down $26.2 billion for the business social network -- its biggest-ever acquisition.

"I'm more confident than ever that our move to join forces with Microsoft will accelerate our mission to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful, and ultimately help create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce," wrote LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner in a blog post.

For Microsoft, the LinkedIn deal furthers its plan to become an essential provider to businesses of cloud-based services, including its Office 365. The two companies said they plan to work together on artificial intelligence, machine learning, the cloud, devices and more.

As for users, Weiner said LinkedIn will remain essentially unchanged. He added that over the next few months, the social network will share more about how it's integrating its services with Microsoft's products.

The European Union gave its blessing to the deal on Tuesday, which led to today's official closing of the acquisition. Microsoft had asked for regulatory approval from the governments of the US, Canada, Brazil and the EU, all of which approved the deal.