Microsoft’s acquisition of the social network LinkedIn is not easy to understand. Both companies’ chief executives, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Jeff Weiner, have described the $26.2 billion all-cash deal — one of the largest in tech history — in the blandest corporate-speak, with memos that sounded as if they were part of LinkedIn’s megaboring attempt to create a commentary ...

  When he promised a referendum on the U.K.’s membership in the EU, Prime Minister David Cameron was surely not picturing the white-knuckle ride his “remain” campaign is experiencing right now. What was intended as a campaign promise to get his Conservatives elected must seem in retrospect like a reckless gamble. The consequences will be felt long after the ballots ...

Several months behind schedule, the New Zealand Defense White Paper was released last week in Wellington. It has earmarked funding of around NZ$20 billion (US$14 billion) over 15 years for defense, which will be used, among other things, to replace frigates and aircraft and to provide the New Zealand Defense Force with a cyber warfare capability. This investment is the ...