LinkedIn is one of the world’s largest professional networking platforms with over 750 million members. Since its founding in 2002, LinkedIn has acquired over 50 companies to expand its product offerings and grow its user base.
Why does LinkedIn acquire companies?
LinkedIn acquires companies for a few key reasons:
- Gain technology and talent – Many of LinkedIn’s acquisitions are aimed at gaining access to technology and engineering talent.
- Expand product capabilities – Acquisitions enable LinkedIn to add new features and functionality more quickly than building them in-house.
- Enter new markets – Some acquisitions allow LinkedIn to expand into new geographical markets or industry verticals.
- Remove competition – By acquiring a competitor, LinkedIn eliminates a threat and absorbs the competitor’s market share.
Major acquisitions
Here are some of the major companies acquired by LinkedIn over the years:
Lynda.com
In 2015, LinkedIn acquired lynda.com, an online learning platform, for $1.5 billion. This remains LinkedIn’s largest acquisition to date. It enabled LinkedIn to significantly expand its offering of online courses and position itself as a learning and development platform.
Bright
LinkedIn acquired job search startup Bright in 2014 for $120 million. This allowed LinkedIn to expand its job search and career management features.
Pulse
In 2013, LinkedIn purchased news curation app Pulse for $90 million. This acquisition allowed LinkedIn to add news and content capabilities to its platform.
SlideShare
In 2012, LinkedIn acquired presentation-sharing platform SlideShare for $119 million. This helped LinkedIn expand into content marketing and become a resource for sharing professional content.
Rapportive
In 2012, LinkedIn purchased Rapportive, an email plugin start-up, for $15 million. This allowed LinkedIn to integrate Rapportive’s contact management features into its Sales Navigator product.
Full list of LinkedIn acquisitions
Here is a full list of companies acquired by LinkedIn since it was founded in 2002:
Company Acquired | Year | Price |
---|---|---|
Lynda.com | 2015 | $1.5 billion |
Bright | 2014 | $120 million |
Bizo | 2014 | Unknown |
Newsle | 2013 | Unknown |
Pulse | 2013 | $90 million |
Intro | 2013 | Unknown |
SlideShare | 2012 | $119 million |
Rapportive | 2012 | $15 million |
Connectifier | 2012 | Unknown |
Index Tank | 2011 | $125 million |
Choices | 2010 | Unknown |
mSpoke | 2010 | Unknown |
CardMunch | 2010 | Unknown |
BlueKai | 2010 | Unknown |
Rel8tion | 2009 | Unknown |
face.com | 2009 | Unknown |
sers | 2009 | Unknown |
Tweetpoll.me | 2009 | Unknown |
Mr. Tweet | 2009 | Unknown |
NutshellMail | 2008 | Unknown |
ChoiceVendor | 2008 | $20 million |
uncomplicate | 2007 | Unknown |
Leada | 2007 | Unknown |
GapJumpers | 2007 | Unknown |
Connectbeam | 2006 | Unknown |
Mobius Venture Capital | 2006 | Unknown |
Jobs.com | 2006 | $5 million |
Measure Map | 2006 | Unknown |
LinkedIntelligence | 2005 | $20 million |
Greystripe | 2005 | $4.25 million |
Indexu | 2004 | Unknown |
Jump2 | 2004 | Unknown |
Key acquisitions by category
Here’s an overview of some of LinkedIn’s key acquisitions organized by category:
Content and Publishing
- Pulse
- SlideShare
- Newsle
Marketing and Sales
- Bizo
- Rapportive
- BlueKai
Recruitment and Job Search
- Bright
- Jobs.com
- Connectifier
Education
- Lynda.com
Data and Analytics
- Index Tank
Recent acquisitions
LinkedIn’s most recent acquisitions include:
- Drawbridge (2021) – LinkedIn acquired ad tech company Drawbridge to bolster its marketing and advertising capabilities.
- Glint (2018) – LinkedIn purchased Glint, an AI-powered employee survey and engagement platform, to expand its talent and HR offerings.
- WhereHows (2018) – LinkedIn acquired data catalog startup WhereHows to improve its dataset analytics capabilities.
Conclusion
Through strategic acquisitions over the past two decades, LinkedIn has managed to grow from a simple networking platform to a diversified business with offerings across content publishing, marketing, recruitment, learning and more. Key acquisitions like Lynda, SlideShare and Bright have played a pivotal role in shaping LinkedIn’s product portfolio and market position.
With a user base of over 750 million professionals worldwide, LinkedIn continues to be one of the most influential and profitable technology companies. It’s likely that LinkedIn will continue pursuing acquisitions as an efficient way to integrate new technologies and accelerate innovation across its platform.