LinkedIn announced its biggest acquisition yet on Thursday, spending $1.5 billion for online education company lynda.com.

The deal adds a new revenue stream to LinkedIn — lynda.com is reportedly already profitable — as well as a deep slate of web-based learning programs, as the social network looks to provide more utility for users beyond its professional connections.

"At LinkedIn, we’ve followed lynda.com for a long time, rooted in the conviction that access to high-quality, skills-based learning-and-development content should be available to every LinkedIn member and a fundamental part of our platform," LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner wrote in a post announcing the deal.

The deal is 52% cash and 48% LinkedIn stock.

Online education companies have recently enjoyed an influx of venture capital money, with almost $2 billion invested in the space in 2014. That has included optimism for the type of adult education that lynda.com focuses on, but also programs targeted at younger people still in school.

Founded in 1995, lynda.com is a subscription-based service that offers education on a wide variety of topics from web design and screenwriting to database management and interior design. The company did not take much funding for its first 18 years, but began to raise with a $103 million round in 2013. More recently, lynda.com raised $186 million in January 2015 for its second major round.

Lynda.com appeals to individuals seeking to improve their skill set, but also has a considerable enterprise side Lynda.com appeals to individuals seeking to improve their skill set, but also has a considerable enterprise side that works with businesses as well as public and government institutions. It counts Time Warner and Patagonia as clients.

LinkedIn shares, which had been slightly higher in pre-market trading, were down 1.3%.

Eric Robison, CEO of lynda.com, said the acquisition represented a chance to bring lynda.com's education to a wider audience.

"In LinkedIn, we have found an incredible partner who shares our vision and passion for empowering people around the world to make real change in their lives through access to information, learning and professional development," he said in a press release.

Adding education services to its existing features provides job seekers with another reason to use LinkedIn, said Ryan Roslansky, head of content at LinkedIn.

"Imagine being a job seeker and being able to instantly know what skills are needed for the available jobs in a desired city, like Denver, and then to be prompted to take the relevant and accredited course to help you acquire this skill. Or doing a search on SlideShare to learn about integrated marketing and then to be prompted with a lynda.com course on the same subject," he wrote in a post.

Lynda.com was started by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, her husband. Weinman taught herself how to use computers and was teaching courses on computer graphics when the world wide web began to grow. She bought lynda.com for $35 and wrote a book on web graphics that became a best seller.

She then started the online school with her husband, growing it over several years. The business is also among the earliest example of online success through subscriptions. Courses on her site, she told Forbes, were never free.

"We always charged for our work without over charging, and people who respected it and learned from us shared their appreciation by telling others," Wienman said.

From Mashable: http://mashable.com/2015/04/09/linkedin-lynda-acquisition/

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I really like lynda.com its pack with helpful resource. Hope linkedin won't change but enhance it, unlike what happened to the present photoshop+

Ok

Linkedin is becoming more relevant everyday

doncheks:
Linkedin is becoming more relevant everyday

Seriously, they are doing good business.

This is a welcome development