
The tick-tock story of how LinkedIn shopped itself - jefreybulla
http://www.recode.net/2016/7/2/12085428/linkedin-microsoft-salesforce-google-deal-timeline
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gvb
_June 7th AND 8th: Weiner and Hoffman each chat (separately) with Nadella,
telling him the $182 offer just isn’t good enough, but that they are open to a
$200 per share offer in cash. Sure, Nadella says, but we need to find “cost
synergies” with that price._

"Cost synergies" is a euphemism for layoffs. In other words, Linkedin's
employees will be paying for the bid increase.

~~~
bostonpete
I thought "cost synergies" involved getting rid of redundancies -- e.g. we
don't need to maintain two separate accounting organizations and can save a
bunch of money by combining them.

Yes, that could involve layoffs, but what's the alternative? Do you think
Microsoft (or any buyer) is going to keep around unnecessary personnel after
an acquisition if they manage to get a lower price? I would assume they'd end
up saving money on the acquisition _and_ cutting personnel. Why would they do
otherwise...?

