EU clears Microsoft’s $26 billion LinkedIn deal

The European Union on Tuesday approved Microsoft’s $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn Corp., after the software giant agreed to safeguards to assuage antitrust concerns. The OK from the European Commission was the last major regulatory approval the deal required, paving the way for Microsoft to seal its purchase of the professional social networking website in the coming days. To win EU approval, Microsoft also agreed to allow rival social networks to access Office’s application programming interfaces, which allow discrete programs to communicate with each another.