Mergers and Acquisitions: LinkedIn Acquires Lynda.com and Refresh.io
In recent mergers and acquisitions news, LinkedIn has announced two acquisitions, both of which highlight the company’s goal to become more than an online professional networking source and resume repository.
Acquisition of Lynda.com: Move to Higher Education
- Target: Lynda.com, an online repository of learning videos
- Consideration: $1.5 billion in cash and stock
- Date Announced: April 9, 2015
LinkedIn’s acquisition of Lynda.com will help LinkedIn expand its current job posting service by allowing job seekers to automatically find online courses for skills and credentials which employers are seeking. Lynda.com has various learning videos which presumably will be integrated into LinkedIn’s features. BuzzFeed notes that this acquisition may also signal a move by LinkedIn to break into the higher education market by creating a platform for MOOCs (See: What is a MOOC?). I would be very interested to see if companies like PLI could integrate with LinkedIn to promote the continuing education courses taken by attorneys to satisfy MCLE requirements. I use LinkedIn to better know my clients and potential clients, and I’m sure they do the same to me. It would be great if they could see how I am continually learning to expand the skills I offer to them.
Acquisition of Refresh.io: Move to Anticipatory Computing and Every Day App
- Target: Refresh.io, a software start-up that provides consolidated detailed information about one’s contacts through web and social network searches
- Consideration: Not Disclosed.
- Date Announced: April 2, 2015
Techcrunch notes that this is both a technology and talent acquisition (See: What is an Acquihire?). This acquisition allows LinkedIn to further expand into the area of anticipatory computing. I see this acquisition as LinkedIn’s goal to become an app people use every day, like Facebook or Twitter. Most people use LinkedIn sporadically to add new business contacts or find contact information for existing business contacts, but with features and acquisitions like Refresh.io, LinkedIn can provide up to date information about one’s contacts or let you know when you’re near someone in your network. These features can help to form a more personal relationship. I think it would be useful to know if my business contacts have been promoted, switched jobs or are working on the latest roll out of a product. It will be interesting to see if people take to LinkedIn for these personal updates.