Bill Gates talked to Reid Hoffman about being on Microsoft's board of directors (MSFT, LNKD)

Getty/Alex Wong On May 9th, not too long after Microsoft and LinkedIn began their initial talks about the possibility of an acquisition, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman held a private meeting that had been previously scheduled. Normally, you never get to find out what happens when business leaders hold meetings like this. But because of LinkedIn's new filing with the SEC, where it has to lay out the order of events leading to Microsoft's $26 billion purchase, we...