LinkedIn to reportedly acquire Pulse newsreader for over $50M in content creation push

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Business networking giant LinkedIn is reported to be in late stage talks to purchase popular newsreader Pulse in a deal worth "tens of millions" of dollars, with the buy seen as part of a larger push into content creation and consumption.

Pulse
Pulse's "Visual Mosaic" layout as seen on iPad. | Source: Pulse


Citing people close to the negotiations, AllThingsD reported that LinkedIn will buy San Francisco-based Alphonso Labs, creators of Pulse, which supposedly boasts a readership of 20 million users who read some 10 million stories via the service each day. While a price has yet to be divulged, sources say the acquisition is worth at least $50 million, with a high end of $100 million.

The publication noted earlier on Monday that Pulse was being courted by a "platform" company, with interested firms ranging from from Microsoft to Yahoo. After some digging, it was discovered that LinkedIn was most likely to be behind the offer and could announce the purchase as soon as this week.

LinkedIn is looking to expand its reach beyond the networking market with the recent acquisition of CardMunch, SlideShare and Rapportive, all services skewed toward content creation and consumption. Pulse may be another step in that direction as the service, which includes both iOS and Android apps as well as a Web version, serves up a bevy of aggregated content feeds from a variety of sources.

The Pulse app for iOS has been a featured title in the App Store and was even lauded by late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs in 2010 as being one of the best selling iPad products at the time. In January, the company made a further push into social media after adding specially formatted YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and Flickr feeds into its "Visual Mosaic" browsing experience.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    That's one piece of software to remove from my iPad.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    It's such an amazing app. I use it multiple times a day. Hope LinkedIn doesn't ruin it.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member


    A few months later - a few hundred more news readers in app stores. :)

  • Reply 4 of 5
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member


    The network for 'professionals', ran by 'amateurs'!


     


    Didn't even use a salt on my passwords (!!). Then when I try and close my account and 'unsubscribe' they continue to bombard me with bullshit emails. 


     


    Very unprofessional company.

  • Reply 5 of 5

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    The network for 'professionals', ran by 'amateurs'!


     


    Didn't even use a salt on my passwords (!!). Then when I try and close my account and 'unsubscribe' they continue to bombard me with bullshit emails. 


     


    Very unprofessional company.



     


    Agreed.  Hate LinkIn.  


     


    On the other hand, I've been using and loving Pulse since it launched.  Hopefully LinkIn doesn't turn it to crap.  

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