Announcing its biggest deal yet, Microsoft said Monday it was acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, or $196 per share, in cash.

With a network of more than 433 million professionals, LinkedIn’s integration with Microsoft is a major step in the world of cloud computing and social networking. The collaboration of LinkedIn, Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM is an opportunity to change and reinvent sales, marketing and business strategies and processes, while granting professionals access to the tools they need to be more productive and engaged.

Expected to close later this year pending regulatory and shareholder approval, according to Business Insider, this acquisition would be the third largest in the tech industry, preceded by Dell’s purchase of EMC for $67 billion and HP’s buyout of Compaq for $33.6 billion.

“This deal brings together the world’s leading professional cloud with the world’s leading professional network,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, in a statement.

The goal is to create a mutually beneficial relationship, one that entails new user experiences, including a LinkedIn newsfeed that delivers articles based on your current projects and suggestions from Microsoft Office for connections with experts via LinkedIn, he said. Not only does this allow for targeted advertising, but it also establishes new opportunities to accelerate LinkedIn’s growth while bringing value to its members with Microsoft’s products, Nadella further explained.

Last year, LinkedIn bought Lynda.com for $1.5 billion and established a platform to connect people to online learning tools, further expanding their network and presence in professional development. Now, Lynda’s videos can be hosted inside Microsoft’s products, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.

Integrating the Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning solution in Office can transform learning and development, said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, in an email to his employees explaining why he sold the company.

“Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn’s network, now gives us a chance to also change the way the world works,” said Weiner, in a press release.

Currently, Microsoft’s main focus is on software. With this acquisition, LinkedIn’s professional content database and social networking capabilities offer a platform for Microsoft to sell its products.

According to a slide in Microsoft’s presentation deck, Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM, which currently competes with Salesforce, will connect with LinkedIn Sales Navigator to transform the sales process with insights and tools to help sellers build deeper relationships with customers through social selling.

“Microsoft could build LinkedIn into a major customer relationship management software system for salespeople, pushing into an area dominated by Salesforce,” said Anurag Rana, a senior analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, in an article on Bloomberg. “LinkedIn could really become a really big competitor for Salesforce going forward.”

This acquisition connects people with one another, directly providing users with the information they need to succeed in their jobs and grow their professional careers. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, connecting LinkedIn to Office allows people to engage with one another by using calendar invites. Sales representatives can seek out potential customers from LinkedIn. The integration of Microsoft and LinkedIn not only increases workforce efficiency and productivity, but reveals connections that potentially lead to new conversations and customers.

“I am a deep believer in in productivity tools and communication tools because that is what empowers people to be able to be great at their job,” said Nadella, in a video on Microsoft’s site. “But think about taking that and connecting it with the professional network and really having that entirety of what is your professional life be enhanced, more empowered, where you are acquiring new skills and being more successful in your current job and finding a greater, bigger next job. That’s that vision.”