Dive Brief:
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Microsoft has offered concessions to antitrust regulators in the European Union as it seeks approval of its bid to buy LinkedIn, according to Reuters.
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It’s not yet clear what concessions Microsoft offered, but an EU spokesperson said it received "a commitments proposal" from Microsoft, according to TechCrunch. Microsoft declined to comment. The commitments refer to a "remedy" companies can offer if there are concerns a merger or acquisition will affect competition.
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Last week, an EU antitrust regulator indicated it had apprehensions about the deal, Reuters said.
Dive Insight:
Microsoft announced its plans to purchase LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in June and antitrust regulators in the United States, Canada and Brazil have already approved the deal. The EU is the last major approval required for completion of the deal. But the EU has taken a stronger stance on data privacy and anti-competitive practice complaints over the last several years.
Salesforce, which also bid on LinkedIn but lost the deal to Microsoft, asked the European Union to look into potential antitrust issues in September, complaining that the proposed merger does not allow for business competition.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has urged regulators to consider how tech mergers today are more about data. Data is the new enterprise currency, and the fact that Microsoft will now have access to LinkedIn’s data on 450 million professionals has Salesforce concerned.
