This is exactly the reason why LinkedIn needed the acquisition. I agree with you that the $26B price tag makes no sense given that LinkedIn needed this deal more than Microsoft did.
> The software giant will pay $196 a share - a premium of almost 50% to Friday's closing share price.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36519766 https://archive.fo/SoaO6
I think Windows Mobile should have followed through with its bridges, particularly the Android Bridge that it unceremoniously burned.
ref https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-officially-cancels-... https://archive.fo/qtqcK
But I agree, a decent acquisition strategy could have done wonders for their ecosystem. Instead of constantly making and shutting down competitors to popular products, buy the popular ones. There was a time before now when Evernote would have been a nifty target, before they collapsed under their need to make money. There are plenty of amazing music platforms that people care about which aren't Groove.
In roughly the same period, Microsoft bought Skype, Minecraft and LinkedIn for a total of around $36 billion, the bulk of that accruing to LI's price. I get that MS is enterprise-focused, but those prices seem completely out of whack with what they actually got in value. Whatsapp, Google and Apple all offer built in video chat for consumers and LI's value to anyone outside of recruiting agencies is dubious.