As most of you probably know, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn, the professional networking site with over 433 million users. Microsoft purchased them for $196 per share in an all cash transaction worth $26.2 billion. LinkedIn will continue to operate under its own culture and brand and Jeff Weiner will remain the CEO, reporting directly to Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella.

Both LinkedIn and Microsoft’s board of directors unanimously approved this move that is expected to close by the end of 2016. It is still waiting for approval from LinkedIn’s shareholders and from there it must meet the customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Microsoft and LinkedIn held a joint conference call with their investors Monday at 11:45 ET to discuss the details of the transaction.

This move is by far the biggest acquisition in Microsoft’s history and it will have implications that benefit both companies.

LinkedIn’s massive network can offer Microsoft plenty of data as they continue their push to make their products more connected and intelligent. This deal essentially aims to bring together tools, such as Microsoft Office, that workers use to get their work done and large networks, provided by LinkedIn, that keep professional connected.

Microsoft will help LinkedIn’s ability to sell products. It will be able to offer its own products inside of microsoft’s products. For example, it will be able to offer Lynda training videos inside of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

In an email to his employees, Weiner explained that after speaking with Nadella he became excited for this move for three reasons. First off he was impressed by Nadella’s leadership and his ability to make fundamental changes so quickly.

Second, he realized that both companies had very similar mission statements. They found common ground in that they both wanted to help professionals accomplish more. They both realized that their mission statements could be more easily achieved by combining their assets.

And third, he loved the independence in operating that LinkedIn would be able to maintain. It is a model that has worked well with other companies such as Instagram and WhatsApp.

LinkedIn’s main mission now becomes connecting and empowering the professional world in a way that has never been seen before. Integrating LinkedIn into Microsoft’s cloud experience will create distinct advantages for Microsoft that other companies will simply not have the network to re-create.

Why this is good news for you.

Normally, I’m not a huge fan of big companies merging with other big companies. It generally results in less competition and slows the rate of innovation. But in this case, it bodes well for Microsoft (because it gets them more deeply ensconced in the Silicon Valley culture and energy) and it bodes well for LinkedIn (because it expands their reach into new nooks and crannies).

For the time being, you probably won’t see many changes in the look-and-feel of LinkedIn, but over time, you’ll start to see integrations that will be subtly but importantly improve the functionality of the platform.

The two companies that will probably be most impacted by this are Google (with their Google Docs platform) and possibly Salesforce, which continues to innovate at a rapid pace. I wouldn’t expect Google or Salesforce to change either of their strategies based on Microsoft’s move, but it’s nice to see Microsoft acting like the nimble, progressive company that it once was.

What are your thoughts? Do you think this was a good move by Microsoft?

About the Authors: Jamie Turner is the founder of the 60 Second Marketer. Trevor Cefalu works at the 60 Second Marketer and at SIXTY, a marketing optimization firm that helps companies improve the impact of their marketing by 10% or more.