Microsoft Corp. snapped up LinkedIn Corp. for $26.2 billion in the largest acquisition in its history, betting the professional social network can rev up the tech titan’s software offerings ...

Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, marking one of the biggest tech mergers in recent memory and giving the software giant a firm foothold in the online professional world.

Microsoft’s announcement, on Monday, that it would purchase LinkedIn—its biggest acquisition ever, at more than twenty-six billion dollars—brought to mind an earlier takeover attempt, almost ...