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May 08, 2012

Analyst Group Gives Nod to Recent LinkedIn Acquisition of SlideShare

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

Business social networking site LinkedIn (News - Alert) has formed a new contact of its own: the company has reportedly acquired professional content sharing platform SlideShare for $119 million in cash and stock. Analysts from research group Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) say LinkedIn's success, plus this acquisition, put the company in a very unique position right now. Its shares have more than doubled since its initial public offering in May 2011, and it has reported that its membership has increased to 161 million from 150 million in the fourth quarter. 




Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner has been venturing toward making the platform more mobile to attract more professionals to its subscription services and attract advertisers who want to reach the growing user base. The company's successful model is even starting to take revenue away from traditional recruitment and head hunting agencies that charge high fees for the recruitment of professionals.

SlideShare, called the “YouTube (News - Alert)” of slide shows, is a Web 2.0-based slide hosting service. Users can upload files, either privately or publicly, using PowerPoint format, PDF, Keynote or OpenOffice Presentations. Slide presentations can then be viewed on the site itself, on mobile devices or embedded into on other sites.

According to Audrey William, Head of ICT Research for Frost & Sullivan Australia & New Zealand, Social Media is gathering a lot of momentum in the business space and this is a very strategic acquisition for LinkedIn simply because it has always been a professional networking platform.

“Now that content can be shared, uploaded, viewed amongst liked minded individuals, LinkedIn will be the strongest social media network for professionals,” she said in a press release today. “The company has in recent years done quite a few amazing things to its portal including allowing for twitter feeds to be sent via LinkedIn and that itself has brought about a lot of discussion amongst professionals,” said William.

LinkedIn’s model seeks revenue via various areas such as premium membership, recruitment fees and advertising. Frost & Sullivan says it expects this to continue and see LinkedIn growing its revenues effectively via these models.

“It will become an attractive platform for advertising and recruitment and will be the ‘Facebook’ (News - Alert) of the professional networking world,” added William.




Edited by Juliana Kenny
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