As Microsoft ($MSFT) reported its second quarter earnings on Thursday, the company shared that its newly acquired subsidiary LinkedIn contributed $228 million in revenue towards its bottom line, but also lost $100 million in net income.
Microsoft said it generated a total of $26.1 billion in revenue for the quarter, so LinkedIn’s share is less than 1 percent. And in the bigger picture, the $228 million should not be assessed as either good or bad since it hasn’t been a part of Microsoft for a full quarter — the deal to acquire the professional social networking company only closed recently.
Should you be curious, though, in Q2 2016, LinkedIn reported it generated $933 million in revenue, with an earnings per share of $1.13. It also had a net loss of $118 million.
In Microsoft’s filing, LinkedIn was relegated to the productivity and business processes section, which in total brought in $7.4 billion for the quarter, a 10 percent annual increase. And since it’s now a subsidiary, LinkedIn is no longer listing its member numbers. In its final quarter as an independent entity, it said membership grew 18 percent to 467 million.
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Microsoft completed its LinkedIn purchase in December, having received approval from regulators in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and South Africa, as well as the European Commission. However, in order to do so, concessions had to be made, including for the next 5 years giving LinkedIn competitors continued access to Office Add-in and promotional opportunities in the Office store; not entering into agreements with PC manufacturers to pre-install a Windows LinkedIn application or tile favoring the social network on an exclusive basis; and more.
Earlier in the year, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire LinkedIn, much to the chagrin of Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff. Salesforce had been in the running to purchase the professional social network. After being outbid, Benioff submitted a request to the European Union and regulators asking that extra scrutiny be paid to the deal.
Next quarter will be worth paying attention to in order to see if LinkedIn can continue to churn out results similar to its past life as a public company. From LinkedIn Learning to the launch of a redesigned desktop app, the company appears to be putting effort toward finding ways to improve member engagement — 106 million frequent the social network monthly. LinkedIn may be moving forward with its scheduled product roadmap, but it’s likely that integrations are planned with Microsoft. However, will members respond kindly to these actions?
