Microsoft Completes Acquisition of LinkedIn

It's been a long time coming: Microsoft now officially owns LinkedIn

The two companies said that their acquisition deal had closed. This comes six months after news broke that Microsoft was planning to throw down $26.2 billion for the business social network -- its biggest-ever acquisition.

"I'm more confident than ever that our move to join forces with Microsoft will accelerate our mission to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful, and ultimately help create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce," wrote LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner in a blog post.

For Microsoft, the LinkedIn deal furthers its plan to become an essential provider to businesses of cloud-based services, including its Office 365. The two companies said they plan to work together on artificial intelligence, machine learning, the cloud, devices and more.

As for users, Weiner said LinkedIn will remain essentially unchanged. He added that over the next few months, the social network will share more about how it's integrating its services with Microsoft's products.

The European Union gave its blessing to the deal on Tuesday, which led to today's official closing of the acquisition. Microsoft had asked for regulatory approval from the governments of the US, Canada, Brazil and the EU, all of which approved the deal.