Microsoft Outmaneuvers Salesforce For LinkedIn's Data

Last week, completed its acquisition of for $26.2 billion. After winning a purported bidding war with, Microsoft again battled the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) leader in front of EU regulators. Salesforce argued that the acquisition would make Microsoft too powerful in the CRM market, an argument the regulators rejected. The stakes were much higher than that. In fact, the CRM card was a red herring that Microsoft played masterfully.