Satya Nadella explains in a sentence the real reason he bought LinkedIn ... and Salesforce should be worried

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shocked and baffled the tech world Monday morning by announcing Microsoft was buying LinkedIn for a massive $26.2 billion or $196 per share, cash.

And if there's one company that should be sitting up and taking notice, it's Microsoft's newfound buddy, Salesforce.

Oracle, SAP, and Workforce might want to pay attention too.

While most of the world is focusing on how LinkedIn data could integrate with Outlook, Office 365 and other Microsoft apps, the truth is, Nadella didn't need to buy LinkedIn for that.

The two could have simply partnered to share data. In fact, the ability to get LinkedIn data into Outlook has been around for years.

This move is really about Salesforce and human resources cloud software. Nadella sees LinkedIn data as a way to reinvent these massive markets.

He's going to marry LinkedIn with Microsoft's Dynamics and Office 365. Dynamics is Microsoft's customer relationship management (CRM), HR, and accounting apps.

These are the apps that compete with Salesforce. They also competes with similar software from Oracle and SAP, and Workday.

What Nadella is imagining is a LinkedIn that's so tightly bound with Office 365 and Dynamics that companies will naturally want to buy new cloud services that makes use of all three of them.

Nadella explained it in a sentence to Business Insider's Matt Rosoff Monday morning.

He said that buy buying LinkedIn's professional network:

"It helps us differentiate our CRM product with social selling. It helps us take Dynamics into new spaces like human capital management with recruiting, and learning, and talent management."

He later told analysts that connecting LinkedIn data with Dynamics is "where the magic starts to happen."

Nadella tried to buy Salesforce

Remember, Nadella famously attempted to buy Salesforce last year but the deal fell through when the two couldn't agree on a price. It surprised no one that Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff ultimately didn't sell.

After the talks fell through, the CEOs have remained friendly and the two companies, once bitter rivals, are now partners, integrating Salesforce's CRM and HR apps with Office 365.

But insiders say that Microsoft has since ramped up its competition against Salesforce and that it stopped being "overly cooperative" with Salesforce after talks fell through, one Wall Street analyst reported some time ago.

If spending a rumored $40 billion to $50 billion on Salesforce made sense in 2015, spending half that much on LinkedIn to go after the same market in a different, and more creative way, makes equal sense.

Microsoft believes that the total addressable market of its LinkedIn purchase is $315 billion.

Salesforce declined comment.

Marc Benioff tried to buy LinkedIn even after it announced the deal with Microsoft

After LinkedIn officially announced that it had sold itself to Microsoft for $26.2 billion in cash last month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, a rival bidder, didn't give up right away.

Instead he sent an email to cofounder and chairman Reid Hoffman and CEO Jeff Weiner that essentially said he would have been willing to pay much more for LinkedIn, had he been given the chance, according to documents filed with the SEC on Friday.

Salesforce was one of three other companies besides Microsoft who were also bidding on LinkedIn. Numerous media reports named Salesforce as the infamous "Party A," the one who engaged in bidding war with Microsoft, as revealed by LinkedIn in SEC documents that explaineddetails of how the deal went down.

Salesforce's last offer before LinkedIn chose Microsoft was $85 in cash plus stock that equaled $200 per share. Ultimately, Microsoft offered $196 cash per share and the two companies announced the deal on June 13.

An email to reconsider

In an SEC filing on July 1, LinkedIn disclosed to the world how the bidding war went down.

That disclosure prompted Benioff to email Hoffman and Weiner to say that if LinkedIn would have communicated to him that his previous offer wasn't good enough, Salesforce (aka "Party A") would have offered "much" more.

"The email indicated that Party A would have bid much higher and made changes to the stock/cash components of its offers, but it was acting without communications from LinkedIn," LinkedIn explained in SEC documents. The document does not specifically name Benioff as having authored the email, but says that it was written by the CEO of Party A.

It was a not-so-subtle play to get LinkedIn to reconsider its commitment to Microsoft. And on July 7, LinkedIn met with its bankers to discuss Benioff's email, LinkedIn said, but ultimately decided not to respond.

One reason: Although LinkedIn has the option to bail on the agreement and take a better offer, if it does that, it will owe Microsoft "a termination fee of $725 million."

Benioff wanted LinkedIn for the same reason Microsoft does. Both of these companies see LinkedIn's massive network of more than 433 million professionals as data that can be mined with machine learning artificial intelligence and then used with their sales, marketing and collaboration software.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and 500 of his employees use this simple technique to reduce stress

Work is stressful. That's true for everyone, even if you love your job.

At Salesforce, CEO Marc Benioff runs a company that employs 22,000 people and will do $8.3 billion in revenue this year. Business Insider's Matt Rosoff asked him what he does to deal with the stress of his job and the answer was surprisingly simple: "mindfulness."

"I have a mindfulness practice and I try to practice mindfulness formally a few times a week. Like yesterday I did attend a mindfulness seminar that we had at Salesforce with 500 employees, where we had a mindfulness teacher come in," he said.

Mindfulness is a form of meditation, or as Benioff describes it: It's "a meditation type practice, just being able to sit quietly and spend time trying to let go of the stress that I collect during the week running a big business."

You can try mindfulness now; it only takes a few minutes. Plant both feet on the ground and feel the floor under them. Then go through your body, head-to-toe, relaxing any tense muscles: eyebrows, eyelids, jaw, tongue, shoulders, upper-back/shoulder blades, tummy, thighs, feet.

Now just sit there a few minutes, breathing naturally, noticing your body, noticing any thoughts. Don't react. Don't fix things. Don't fidget (as best as you can). Don't make lists. Don't do anything, just watch yourself for a few minutes and notice yourself, body and mind, allow yourself to relax. If you can't relax, just notice how your stress feels in your body.

Benioff is such a strong believer in the power of mindfulness that the company put a meditation room on every floor of its massive new building at his San Francisco headquarters.

He also dedicated an entire keynote session at the company's huge Dreamforce tech conference to mindfulness training, bringing in tech/meditation experts like Google's Chade-Meng Tan and others to lead the crowd.

There's plenty of research that indicates that this kind of mindful meditation lowers stress and helps us make better decisions.

A Non-Playing XI from IPL 9!

Harish Kotian/Rediff.com comes up with a strong playing eleven from the long list of big names warming the benches this IPL season.

IMAGE: How many teams in the world would not play Martin Guptill? All Photographs: BCCI

The Indian Premier League attracts leading cricketers from around the world every year, but not all of them are lucky enough to make the playing eleven of their respective franchises.

Sometimes even the best warm the bench during the course of the season either due to poor form or because they don't fit into the team's playing combination.

Martin Guptill, easily one of the best limited overs batsmen in the last couple of seasons, did not find any takers at the IPL Players Auction. He came in as a replacement for the injured Lendl Simmons at Mumbai Indians.

After playing just one game since joining the team, Guptill has failed to convince the team management -- which includes Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar -- about his abilities.

Ditto with Chris Gayle who a month ago would never have expected to be dropped from a T20 team. The big-hitting Jamaican too has warmed the Royal Challengers Bangalore bench these last few games.

IMAGE: Returning to India after his daughter Blush's birth, Chris Gayle has played just one game for RCB.

The West Indian left-hander missed four games to travel to Jamaica for the birth of his first child, returned and joined the team on April 25, but has featured in just one game since. K L Rahul has done well while opening with Virat Kohli.

Captain Kohli confirmed that Gayle was dropped and Travis Head included in his place.

'We felt we needed more solidity in the middle order,' the skipper said. 'Travis strikes the ball well, KL (Rahul) and I have been opening well. Also, we thought Travis can give us a few overs of off-spin if needed.'

IMAGE: Has his fielding and fitness laid Sarfaraz Khan low?

Another RCB player relegated to the sidelines after starting off the tournament with a blazing knock is Sarfaraz Khan. The main reason seems to be his fitness.

'Sarfaraz understands the areas in which he needs to work on as far as the fitness and fielding part is concerned,' said RCB skipper Virat Kohli. 'You can't afford to have too many guys in the field who are not up to the mark with their fielding because the outfield here is lightning quick.'

'Sachin (Baby) is, in that aspect, very committed. He is fit and he works on those things. As captain, I want to have a guy who gives 120 per cent on the field and saves some crucial five to six runs,' Virat added, discussing Sarfaraz's omission.

The 18 year old smashed 35 runs off just 10 balls against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in RCB's opening game, but has played only four matches since.

IMAGE: Whatever happened to Mandeep Singh, the IPL's Rising Star just four seasons ago?

Not so long ago, Mandeep Singh was rated one of the best young batsmen in the Indian domestic circuit. Last year he featured in all 14 RCB games, scoring 157 runs.

This season he has played just one game in which he didn't face a single ball.

Four years ago, he scored 432 runs from 16 matches and was deservedly named the 'IPL's Rising Star Player,' for being the best young player of the tournament.

IMAGE: Gurkeerat Mann made his India debut this year, but the Kings XI Punjab doesn't have a place for him this season.

Gurkeerat Mann is unable to command a regular starting place in the Kings XI Punjab team.

After a good showing in domestic cricket for Punjab, he made his international debut in the limited overs series in Australia but failed to score enough runs.

He got three games this IPL season, but after aggregating just 11 runs he has not got a game thereafter.

IMAGE: Aditya Tare led Mumbai to the Ranji Trophy triumph this year, but is the second choice wicket-keeper at the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Wicket-keeper-batsman Aditya Tare led Mumbai to their 41st Ranji Trophy title earlier this year.

With Naman Ojha the team's preferred wicket-keeper, he continues to watch from the sidelines at Sunrisers Hyderabad after playing as a batsman and managing just 8 runs from 3 games.

IMAGE: Why has the Rising Pune Supergiants not deployed Irfan Pathan's talents?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Rising Pune Supergiants are struggling in their first IPL season, yet opportunities have been scarce for former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who has played just one game so far.

Dale Steyn's omission from Gujarat Lions' playing eleven has left many stunned. Equally stunning is Kiwi pacer Trent Boult's exclusion from the Sunrisers Hyderabad eleven.

IMAGE: The finest fast bowler in the world can't get a game for the Gujarat Lions.

Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman's superb performance and a host of left-arm pacers in the Sunrisers squad meant Boult has not even come close to getting a game.

The Sunrisers have relied on pace this season which has meant limited game time for leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who has featured in just two matches this season.

Kolkata Knight Riders's chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has suffered the same fate, getting just one game, in which he took one wicket.

If one had to select a non-playing eleven from IPL 9, we could have a pretty strong team.

IMAGE: Trent Boult can't find a place in a team which has Ashish Nehra, Barinder Sran and Mustafizur Rahman bowling well.

Guptill and Gayle could form a strong opening partnership. Both batsmen can win games single-handedly.

The middle order will have a strong Indian influence with youngsters Mandeep, Gurkeerat and Tare, who have proved themselves in domestic cricket.

Sarfaraz is capable of providing the late boost in the death overs. Pathan can be handy late down-the-order with his ability to hit boundaries.

Leg-spinner Karn and chinaman Kuldeep bring in variety in the spin department, while Steyn and Boult are destructive in any conditions.

The Non-Playing XI:

Martin Guptill

Chris Gayle

Mandeep Singh

Gurkeerat Mann

Aditya Tare (wicket-keeper)

Sarfaraz Khan

Irfan Pathan

Karn Sharma

Kuldeep Yadav

Dale Steyn

Trent Boult.

12th man: Eoin Morgan.

Who would captain this team? Please tell us in the Message Board below.

• Coverage: IPL 9

Honda CB Unicorn 160: The long term report

Over 10,000 km in a year but the bike still offers adequate amount of power on tap and a fuel efficiency figure to keep the pocket happy, says Naveen Soni

Performance motorcycles or premium motorcycle brands -- there's no dearth of either one in the Indian market today. With the arrival of manufacturers like Harley-Davidson, Triumph, DSK-Benelli and Indian Motorcycle, the performance craved, fairly deep-pocketed Indian biker has an assortment of machines to choose from. While commuter motorcycles still rule the Indian two-wheeler roost, the owners of these bikes today crave a bit more, motivating many of them to upgrade to something that offers a healthy balance of efficiency with enough power to satisfy the right wrist.

Honda wasted little time to cater to this audience; and as a follow-up to the successful 150cc CB Unicorn, the Japanese automaker introduced the CB Unicorn 160 and the bike has been our partner in crime for around a year now.

The odometer has ticked over 10,000 km now and since we got our hands on the bike, it's been through the typical ownership experience and has been used by multiple riders. While the initial days saw us taking care of it like a new-born baby, treating every pothole like the devil, eventually the bike did start seeing the urban challenges on a daily basis.

The bike offers a planted ride and whether it's on the weekend or traffic choked weekdays, the CB Unicorn 160 offers great comfort and ease of use with a relaxed riding posture. For those looking to get astride a motorcycle for daily commutes with an adequate amount of power on tap and a fuel efficiency figure to keep the pocket happy, the CB Unicorn 160 is a good wing-man for the job.

Apart from the daily office-home commute, we've taken the bike for a few weekend runs along the national highways. The road trips would of course, involve long durations of high speed riding, sometimes with a pillion or saddle-bags. Even with the added weight, the bike is capable of managing a fuel-efficiency figure of around 55 km/l.

The CB Unicorn offers decent stability and good refinement levels also help control the fatigue associated with intra-city highway trips.

Another impressive facet of the CB Unicorn 160 is the brake strength. The front brake offers great stopping power and while it will come in handy during emergency braking scenarios, the combi-braking system works well to balance things out too. All in all, Honda has retained the core values of the Unicorn that people liked, offering a discreet and well-balanced package that won't offend anyone.

The bike will now be going in for its periodic check-up and we will share a post service update soon.

MV Agusta Brutale 1090: Review

If you're in the hunt for an exotic, fast and stunning looking motorcycle, the MV Agusta Brutale 1090 is just the bike for you.

Ask any motorcycle enthusiast about the most exotic motorcycle brand in the world and chances are high that the response will be MV Agusta. Such is the charm of the Italian brand that many rivals feely the envy. MV Agusta finally made inroads into India through Motoroyale, its Indian partner. MV Agusta needs no introduction, as it is known to produce some of the most exotic, lust-worthy motorcycles on the planet.

I have read for long from journalists across the world that riding a MV Agusta is an experience in itself and I was looking forward to my personal encounter. The bikes are renowned for their amalgamation of breathtaking beauty and cutting edge engineering. So, when I got a call from Motoroyale for Brutale 1090's test ride I was pleasantly surprised and within a few days I found myself aboard the mighty Brutale 1090 on an early morning with some twisty mountain roads for breakfast.

At first glance, the Brutale 1090 makes you take a careful look at it before you swing a leg over. It looks a bit similar to the 800, especially with its headlamp design and fat forks, but there's enough visual distinction to identify this one as the larger motorcycle. The only thing that I didn't like about the test bike was the choice of colour as the black shade hid the Brutale 1090's gorgeous curves. Despite this nitpick it will be really hard to find someone who wouldn't like its design though.

Visually, everything feels snug and very tightly packaged. The tiny flyscreen atop the elliptical headlight and fat, 50mm Marzocchi upside down forks give the front end a distinctive feel. The clocks feels outdated, with a blue backlight which looks nice but isn't the easiest to read.

The curvy tank, exposed trellis frame and bulged rear panels all display a harmony that would delight an artist. The highlight, in typical Italian fashion, is the single sided swingarm with exposed rear alloy that takes the bike's appeal a couple of notches higher.

The twin, slashed exhaust pipes, though, add a dose of muscle. That said, the 1090's design is over two years old now, which means while it looks stunningly beautiful, it is beginning to look slightly dated.

The MV Agusta Brutale 800 stunned most scribes with its performance and I expected the Brutale 1090 to be even more explosive to ride. And it is, yet it isn't. Ironical, eh? Powered by a 1078cc, inline four motor that produces a 146PS of power at a lofty 10,300rpm and 112Nm of torque at 8100rpm, the MV Agusta indeed has the requisite credentials to be a super naked bike. And unless you bring in the scarier 160-170PS super nakeds into the picture you know the Brutale 1090 commands a lot of respect with its performance.

Despite these power-packed specs, the electronic system works like a nanny to keep the rider from sticky situations but it also somehow mellows down the drama.

Switch modes to sport and it changes character, it's an easy task to keep the front wheel pawing high up in the air as you take off from standstill. Being an inline four power doesn't kick in as early as say a V-twin or a V4 but when it does, you had better be prepared for the rush.

Cross 6,000-7,000rpm and your helmet is pushed backwards, unless you lean forward onto the rather tall handlebar as you hold on to dear life. The Brutale 1090 will accelerate to 100kmph in about three and half seconds putting to shame many supercars.

This rush of adrenaline is made even more appealing by the twin exhausts that play a sonorous note unlike few other motorcycles. The sound is pure music, and had me wonder how much sweeter a free-flow end would sound if the stock exhausts are so good. Claimed top speed is 265kmph, which given the windblast after 140kmph is something that will require lot of persistence and courage.

The engine feels refined, though a bit of vibration could be felt from the footpegs. Also, fuelling felt snatchy while taking off from standstill, but there after it was smooth all the way.

In terms of handling the 1090 is what you would expect of an MV -- sporty and super confident. It shadows its 183 kerb weight beautifully as you feel like you're a riding a middleweight performance bike and not a litre-class monster. Talking about riding dynamics, I didn't particularly like the posture as the footpegs aren't as rear-set as I would have liked them to be.

I didn't exactly like the riding position as the handlebars are rather tall and the footpegs aren't as rear set as I would have liked. Also, the seat is slanting forward which had me slide further into it than I liked on a lot of occasions. But these entire shortcomings disappear, the moment you ride the bike on twisties as you get a sense of its compactness and agility, letting you lean on it quickly or switch sides in a flash.

The confidence the chassis inspires unlike few other motorcycles, and I loved the way the front end tried to come up as soon as the throttle was opened wide at corner exits. The hard work put in by the engineers at MV comes to the fore once you start pushing the bike around corners. The Brutale eggs you to go faster, also thanks to the brilliantly set up Marzocchi forks and adjustable Sachs monoshock, the well setup traction control and of course the super grippy Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tyres.

Despite the brilliant handling dynamics, ride quality hasn't been compromised. It's easy to go fast over undulations and bumps, though the larger ones tend to get filtered in.

Given the performance on tap, good braking prowess is crucial. The twin radially mounted 310mm discs upfront with top spec Brembos in front, while a single 210mm disc with a Nissin caliper work fantastically in conjunction with the Bosch ABS, which makes shedding speeds extremely easy, quick and confident.

As I had hoped the MV Agusta Brutale 1090 is a very special motorcycle to ride. The performance, handling prowess along with the nimbleness was a revelation to me with respect to litre-class street bikes. The electronic safety net and the good ride quality in conjunction with comfortable riding posture make it an easy bike to live with.

It feels every bit an MV Agusta with its performance, handling, refinement and of course the top notch quality and fit-finish levels. What further makes it special is the exclusivity that MV Agusta as a brand enjoys. But all this exoticness comes at a price: the Brutale 1090 commands a fat sum of money at Rs 19.30 lakh ex-showroom Pune to be precise.

What makes life furthermore difficult for the Italian brand is the fact it is yet to expand its dealer network. But if you're in the hunt for an exotic, fast and stunning looking motorcycle, the MV Agusta Brutale 1090 is just the bike for you

PMO gets over 61,000 public grievances per month

May 11, 2016 17:48 IST

Over 61,000 public grievances related to a range of issues are received by the Prime Minister's Office every month, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

The grievances include concerns related to employees, quality of service, amenities, police, allegation of corruption or malpractices, labour issues, education, land-related problem and financial services.

According to the data available on the online Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System, the average number of grievances received every month in PMO is 61,919, said the Minister of State in the PMO in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

There are 11,028 grievances pertaining to Delhi, he said. The total number of grievances disposed of and pending as on May 5, 2016 were 7,18,241 and 2,72,466 respectively, the minister said.

The government has established CPGRAMS to facilitate citizens to lodge their grievances from anywhere, anytime for redressal.