Microsoft's acquisition deals on the rise since Satya Nadella took over

Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn last week came in as a surprise to many. The $26.2 billion all cash deal was the largest in Microsoft's history.

However, the acquisition was imminent as there has been an uptick in acquisitions for Microsoft after Satya Nadella took over the reins from former CEO Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft has completed between 2 to 6 acquisition deals per quarter since Nadella has helmed the tech giant, according to a CB Insights report. This is in comparison to 1 to 4 acquisition deals per quarter during Ballmer's era.

Some of Microsoft's acquisitions in the past year include cross-platform mobile app development software Xamarin for $500 million, cyber-security company Adollom for $320 million and keyboard app SwiftKey for $250 million.

The second highest acquisition deal for Microsoft was however done prior to Nadella's era in 2011 when they acquired Skype for $8.5 million.