LinkedIn, the popular professional networking social network, today announced that it will soon acquire SlideShare, a startup that hosts documents and presentations for sharing and display on the web. The company will be purchased for approximately $118.75 million, in a combination of cash and stock.
“Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity,” said LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. “These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We’re very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.”
Over on the LinkedIn blog, Deep Nishar, LinkedIn’s senior vice president for product & user experience, stated that LinkedIn and SlideShare have already been working closely with each other for years. Nishar called himself a “huge fan” of SlideShare and excitedly welcomed the company to the “LinkedIn family.” He also assuaged fears that SlideShare would be changing or going away:
In the meantime, SlideShare users will continue experiencing this great service as always. SlideShare has done a tremendous job of creating a dynamic platform for document sharing that millions of professionals have come to rely on everyday — and it will remain that way
SlideShare CEO Rashmi Sinha, who WebProNews interviewed last year, posted a message on the SlideShare blog explaining her reasons for selling the company:
You could ask why did we agree to sell? For one, I firmly believe that SlideShare will grow faster with LinkedIn. Second, I have watched as LinkedIn has grown from being a place to share your resume to a much richer site, where you go to keep up with what your professional network is doing and sharing. We like the path they are on, and are excited to join them on this journey.
The LinkedIn prepared a SlideShare presentation to outline the acquisition, which can be seen below. What do you think? Does this purchase make sense for LinkedIn? How do you think LinkedIn will use SlideShare? Leave a comment below and let us know.