Microsoft's LinkedIn buy escalates cloud wars

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn just lit up the cloud wars. The giant maker of Windows software missed out on the consumer boom. Under CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft is reaching for riches in the "cloud," doubling down on software and services delivered over the Internet on a variety of platforms and devices. With the 26.2 billion acquisition of the Facebook of professional networks, Microsoft is placing a big bet that bringing together its "professional cloud" and LinkedIn's professional network will help the pair create valuable services for business customers and accelerate Microsoft's shift from traditional software to the cloud, where it's taking on fellow titans of technology Amazon.com and Google. As more companies realize the benefits of shifting software and data off their own computers, tech giants and a slew of start-ups are battling ever more aggressively for these clients.