Editor's Note: This article was originally published on Real Money at 10:01 a.m. on June 13.

Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report shocked the world Monday by announcing a whopping $26.2 billion deal forLinkedIn (LNKD) . Seeing as LinkedIn stock has plunged about 41% this year on the back of subpar first-quarter results, perhaps it should not come as a surprise that Microsoft is doing some vulture investing. I do find it funny that Yahoo! (YHOO) , which is actively being shopped, still hasn't been sold, while Microsoft swoops in to pick up a company that, by most accounts, wanted to stay public. Crazy.

Tech banter aside, this will likely prove to be a good deal for Microsoft over the long term. For starters, the company still dominates business settings with its Office product suite -- despite the inroads that Action Alerts PLUS holding Google (GOOGL) - Get Report made with Google Docs, and other upstarts, such as productivity platform Slack.

Adding LinkedIn should allow Microsoft to further penetrate people's working lives as it fine-tunes its Office services. Moreover, the company is getting access to a very rich pool of talent at a fair price. Tech talent is critical, and Microsoft will likely be better off for injecting its culture with the fresh thinkers over at LinkedIn.

Thumbs up to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. I am sure shareholders are glad that former CEO Steve Ballmer isn't handling this transaction and integration (see the Skype and Nokia deals, which happened under his watch).

Microsoft's willingness to plunk down a huge chuck of cash -- using cheap debt, no less -- sheds light on how poor Apple (AAPL) - Get Report has been at deploying its cash. While Microsoft signals with this purchase that it lacks a core competency in an important area, and is willing to spend to get access, Apple executives' arrogant belief that its company is the best at everything is hindering its potential.

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Since Apple bought headphone-maker Beats for $2.6 billion back in 2014, it has continued down a path of acquiring small upstarts with promising future technology, while watching its cash hoard balloon. The company now has more than $250 billion in total cash, which represents about half of its market cap. Sure, it is great to have cash, but Apple's hoard is excessive and needs to be put to use in order to engage shareholders and reawaken the stock.

And like Microsoft, it may be time for Apple to go big and buy something transformative, even if it means it has to issue more debt. I think that giant purchase has to be Tesla (TSLA) - Get Report .

Apple purchasing Tesla to gain access to the company's leading battery technology and electric car capabilities is not such a far-fetched idea. As FBR analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note earlier in the year, "In our view, acquiring Tesla's advanced battery technology would greatly accelerate Apple's entrance into the next-generation auto arena, and we estimate valuable economies of scope could be realized while transitioning to mass-market volumes" like consumer electronic batteries and automotive software.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk fueled rumors last year of a deal, when he confirmed a meeting with Apple's head of M&A. He didn't specify exactly who he met. A less-transformative deal for Apple, but one that makes sense, due to a derailed stock price and relevant technologies, would be to go with GoPro (GPRO) - Get Report . GoPro resembles Beats in many ways and could be had for a song.

"Apple has no history of buying a really big company, so they would have to think about that a lot as to how they would incorporate it and manage it," said former Apple CEO John Sculley in a recent interview. It's time for Apple to rewrite its acquisition playbook.