Microsoft is no stranger to acquisitions having made more than 180 of them over the years with big name buy such as Skype. Nonetheless, the company's decision to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion took many by surprise.

LinkedIn is Microsoft’s biggest acquisition by some distance, but it is just one of a number of key deals the firm has made since its first deal back in 1987. Established in April 1975, it took the tech giant over 12 years before it made its first purchase, buying Forethought, which developed the software which later became PowerPoint, for $14 million, just over a year after it floated.

Microsoft has averaged six M&A deals a year since then with as many as 18 acquisitions made in 2006 alone. While things went relatively quiet during the global downturn, the company has been active again recently, making 16 transactions last year, more than any other tech rival and the most deals made by the firm since 2008. Last year's M&A's included the acquisition of Irish gaming company Havok from Intel for an undisclosed sum.

Overall, Microsoft has made nine acquisitions totalling more than $1 billion, including Skype ($8.5bn), Visio ($1.37bn), Navision ($1.45bn) Yammer ($1.2bn) and Nokia’s devices and services division ($7.2bn). However, some of the company’s smaller deals, such as the $500 million it paid for Hotmail back in December 1997, have been among its most successful.

The company has made six acquisitions so far in 2016. These include TouchType, the company behind SwiftKey, and the Italian Internet of Things (IoT) platform, Solair.

Where LinkedIn fits in with Microsoft isn’t immediately clear and the tech giant’s decision to continue to run it as a separate company suggests it isn’t sure either. LinkedIn’s shares rose 49 per cent in premarket trading in New York to $194.63 on Monday following the announcement while Microsof’ts stock was down 3.7 per cent to $49.60.