The European Union gave its blessing to Microsoft, allowing the $26.2 billion acquisition to close after six months of regulatory review. The deal was finally sealed last Thursday, joining the world’s leading professional network and the cloud and software giant. In a blog post on LinkedIn, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke about the acquisition and the companies’ plans for moving forward as one.

“As our two companies’ leadership teams have spent time together these last few months, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of and appreciation for LinkedIn’s relentless focus on its members,” Nadella wrote.

“Today I am even more enthusiastic about the common mission and sense of purpose we share, the similarities in our cultures, and the added value we can create for LinkedIn members, to help professionals transform how they work, realize new career opportunities and connect in new ways,” he added.

Nadella outlined these specific integrations of the two companies’ products and services. Here are a few examples.

• LinkedIn identity and network in Microsoft Outlook and the Office suite
• LinkedIn notifications within the Windows action center
• Enabling members drafting résumés in Word to update their profiles, and discover and apply to jobs on LinkedIn
• Extending the reach of Sponsored Content across Microsoft properties
• Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup powered by Active Directory and Office 365
• LinkedIn Learning available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem
• Developing a business news desk across our content ecosystem and MSN.com
• Redefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365

Nadella said he wants to add value to every LinkedIn member, which will include these integrations as well as technological synergies. Microsoft can use its software and cloud expertise to fuel LinkedIn’s online learning, job searching and connecting and collaborating.

“I am energized and optimistic for what we can achieve together and the journey ahead,” Nadella said.

From a subscription standpoint, the areas that will be most impacted will be the availability of LinkedIn Learning through Office 365 and Windows and the subscription-based selling tools including Sales Navigator. These changes appear to be beneficial for all involved.

Someone isn’t happy that this deal made it past regulators, however. Salesforce, who bid against Microsoft for the acquisition, had hoped to keep Microsoft from becoming too powerful. In an October 3 blog post on Medium, Burke Norton, Salesforce Chief Legal Officer and Chief of Corporate and Government Affairs said the concerns are about privacy, data usage and antitrust issues.

“If Microsoft gains ownership of LinkedIn, the company will have the ability and incentive to use LinkedIn’s one-of-a-kind dataset to enhance its own products, while preventing competitors from accessing and effectively utilizing that same data. The result will fundamentally change the marketplace in a way that will be harmful to consumers. Even more damaging, Microsoft could end up stifling future innovation in the market at large by further extending to the cloud the same monopolistic position upon which Microsoft has built its traditional franchise,” Norton said.

“If this deal is allowed to be completed with the result that access to LinkedIn’s data is reserved exclusively to Microsoft, then businesses of all sizes counting on enhanced innovation and more intelligent cloud services will lose out. Only an open competitive market with an even playing field, such as exists today, can drive the kind of innovation needed to fully realize the potential of cloud, social, mobile and artificial intelligence technologies,” Norton added.

“So long as LinkedIn’s data is made available to market participants on a non-exclusive basis, by a company that does not have incentives to discriminate in access to that data, Microsoft, and others, can make use of the data in a way that does not impair competition, and encourages innovation and new market entry for the benefit of customers and consumers,” continued Norton.

Norton went onto say that if Salesforce had been successful in acquiring LinkedIn, it would have used the data “within our own services appropriately and also licensed it to others.” He doesn’t believe Microsoft will do the same unless forced to do so.

Apparently, regulators in the U.S. and abroad disagreed with Salesforce’s position.

Insider Take:

Data is a big deal these days, no matter what business you’re in, and this marriage between Microsoft and LinkedIn puts a lot of data at Microsoft’s fingertips. We don’t know if this gives Microsoft an unfair advantage, or if other companies like Salesforce are entitled to use that data too, but we do think that subscribers and shareholders are likely to benefit from the relationship. Despite the final approval, we probably haven’t heard the last of Salesforce on this issue. We expect them to look over Microsoft’s shoulder every step of the way.