LinkedIn has agreed to acquire Pulse, a newsreader app startup with more than 30 million registered users for $90 million, comprised of 90% in stock and 10% in cash, the companies announced Yesterday.
Founded by Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, Pulse started as a class project at Stanford University in 2010. It has raised about $9.8 million from Greycroft, New Enterprise Associates, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel and others. News of the pending acquisition was previously reported by AllThingsD.
LinkedIn has moved aggressively into content, aiming to be a sort of business news source with a focus on articles being read and shared by business colleagues with related interests. The goal is to make LinkedIn an everyday website for business people to visit, as opposed to one which they only visit when searching for a job. LinkedIn also hired Dan Roth from Fortune to head editorial content.
LinkedIn also added an “influencer” section for articles written by prominent leaders. In that vein, Deep Nishar of LinkedIn sees the company as the“definitive professional publishing platform.” Pulse, which has a presence on a number of mobile platforms with its app, will help LinkedIn continue that content focus.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
Credit: Forbes
