13 ms·

LinkedIn to Buy Online Education Site Lynda.com for $1.5B

320 points by qnk 12y ago

whatok 12y ago
No idea on valuations on this but seems kinda crazy to pay so much when all of the various free MOOC offerings seem to be getting better and better. Realize there's a difference motivation-wise when you actually have to pay and that "learn how to do x" vs "learn about the subject x is under" has value but don't know if $1.5bn is that difference. I see great value for Linkedin users if there's some "official" certification for skills learned through Lynda services that leads to them being more marketable. That's pretty exciting.
- rtpg 12y ago
  The Lynda.com courses aren't like MOOCs. They're not classes on theory, but rather condensed practical things, to get you up and running quickly. They're really aimed at working people catching up on new tech/learning the bases of new skills. I do recommend the service if you want to figure out how to get started quickly with things like final cut or whatnot. It's realllly high quality stuff condensed into 2h or so
  - bennesvig 12y ago
    Agreed. I found Lynda.com to be amazing for learning programs like Final Cut in a very short amount of time.
  - whatok 12y ago
    I realize what Lynda courses are like and have done some in the past which is why I mentioned the "learn how to do x" concept in my post. Other non-traditional MOOC services offered by non-college institutions have a lot of programs mirroring or closely resembling the Lynda approach. There's also zero reason why Coursera and the like would not be able to pivot into this area.
    - rtpg 12y ago
      Ah, sorry, I misread how you wrote that. My impression has been that Coursera is really about applying Socrate's (or is it Aristotle's) dream: free classical education for all. Learning about Final Cut Pro is great, but getting classes on general machine learning ( at least ones that are worth more than a 2000 word blog post) generally require going to a school with a 5 digit price tag. I think Coursera and Lynda aren't trying to compete with each other on that end.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
kirinan 12y ago
This is a pretty interesting acquisition. Linkedin is trying to position themselves as a full service job market. If you want a particular job, go to Linkedin and even if you are missing a few skills you can pick it up on their site and get "Linkedin Certified". This provides Linkedin with a series of "Linkedin Certified Professionals" that recruiters need to pay to get access to. It's an interesting position to be in: desired from both sides of the equation (Job Seekers and Recruiters/Talent Sourcers).
- jkestner 12y ago
  Does MCSE still pull weight? Are there newer certifications that matter now? What fields do you think will benefit from this certification? In design (one of Lynda's pillars), half of hireability is portfolio. I suppose in production roles, you'd want to know you're hiring technically proficient people, but that too you can mostly tell from the work. Perhaps this works as well, or better, from the angle of "People who had this skill got looked at 3x more than you. Go get that skill."
  - kirinan 12y ago
    I think in some realms MCSE does pull some weight, such as large financial institutions and non-tech companies. There are newer certificates such as those from Coursera and Udacity that are starting to pull more and more weight from the industry, mainly tech though. The main fields that benefit from this are business and technology. Human resources and recruiters tend not to be technical: they have no idea if you actually know Java or not. They simply know you have it on your resume. This gives them at least some peace of mind that you know at least some Java. Conversely, Business people can be evaluated on whether they know how to do basic things like rate of return or efficiency metrics. This does help in that realm, but it helps in giving some people confidence as well. Some people have imposters syndrome so a certificate saying they know it alleviates that feeling.
  - ForHackernews 12y ago
    I had always heard that MCSE was considered a joke. I've heard positive things about RHCE and some of the Cisco networking certs, but I haven't been around that world for several years now.
gz5 12y ago
One of the many steps we will see that will have a net effect of disintermediating traditional secondary education. With companies like LinkedIn filling an Uber type role. It used to be that the secondary degree was the middle man between employee and employer (for many professions). Certifications from companies like Microsoft and Cisco changed this in some realms. MOOCs and companies like Lynda expanded to different sectors. Now layers like LinkedIn can essentially be the Uber between employers and the myriad of certifications and degrees that will be available to employees. An Uber layer for connection, credibility, aggregation, certification, etc. I don't believe traditional secondary education gets completely disintermediated. But I believe the landscape becomes much more heterogeneous, which is a good thing.
tosh 12y ago
Very smart move. LinkedIn == career. This might mean heavy competition for Coursera & others going forward.
- S4M 12y ago
  They could very well partner. Let's say you are a recruiter looking for someone who knows machine learning and is based (or wiling to move to) a certain place. A quick search on linkedin and you are shown, amongst others, all the candidates who completed the Machine Learning course on Coursera and match your location criteria. And the other way works as well: if you completed an online course and tell linkedin about it, it can indicate you positions in your area were your new skills could be useful.
ThomPete 12y ago
Congrats to Lynda.com a service I can't recommend enough if you want to get started with programming. It's been around forever and the quality is amazing. I learned to program using it and I always recommend people to use it if they can afford it. Going to be interesting to see where they will take this.
- DanAndersen 12y ago
  I'm also a fan of Lynda.com's tutorials. One thing to mention to anyone out there is to see if your workplace offers access to Lynda to employees. The university I work at does, and it's nice to have that as a resource.
  - ThomPete 12y ago
    Agree. I used to run a design agency, we offered that to our employees it was a great way for people to keep up with various trends and actually much more effective than to send them at courses (which we also offered).
smackfu 12y ago
Wonder if they will cut their podcast ad budget... they are one of the big advertisers on tech podcasts.
junto 12y ago
I wonder if Pluralsight is also on their target list?
- calinet6 12y ago
  I don't believe that's a cultural mesh that would work.
- n-exploit 12y ago
  And with the rate at which Pluralsight is acquiring other companies, it'd be a lot more expensive than 1.5B
- petercooper 12y ago
  Maybe, but Pluralsight looks more like it's aiming for an IPO to me. They've made quite a few acquisitions but then not really integrated them much into the core product - mostly adding big lumps of subscribers and revenue to their numbers which looks better for an IPO than an acquisition.
rasz_pl 12y ago
Daphne Koller must be happy today, this is a huge validation for Coursera business model.
- aikah 12y ago
  > Daphne Koller must be happy today, this is a huge validation for Coursera business model. makes no sense. It would be like saying Facebook success validates Twitter business model, just because they are both social networks. Lynda doesn't issue certificates if you complete their courses. And AFAIK they don't work directly with universities or colleges. Coursera content is academic, while Lynda.com is practical and focus on specific software and/or technology. Sure they have a few "theory courses", but that's not their core business.
  - Zelphyr 12y ago
    From a business standpoint it makes total sense. Investors see Coursera and Lynda as being in the same or similar market so Lynda getting bought helps them clarify the valuation of Coursera if its for sale. If Coursera has taken investment money then it is for sale.
    - aikah 12y ago
      > From a business standpoint it makes total sense. Investors are not idiots. Not saying you are, you might be just misguided. Lynda and Coursera are nothing alike.
- sayhar 12y ago
  You're thinking of Jeff Fernandez.
jasode 12y ago
As an outsider looking in, LinkedIn's purchase of Lynda.com looks like an odd duck in comparison to their previous acquisitions[1]. As far as I can tell, the Lynda.com brand name isn't that well known outside of tech circles. (Virtually all of their courses are Adobe, Microsoft Office, and web development, etc) I'm guessing those computer courses are relevant to less than 5% of LinkedIn's user base. It was very recently (last year or so) that Lynda started doing more business courses[2] (how to calculate ROI, how to write a business plan, etc) Since those business courses are probably their thinnest and weakest offerings, I can only speculate that it was a partly a "proof-of-concept" to show a prospective acquirer (such as LinkedIn) the breadth of topics the content platform could deliver. In that case, LinkedIn is really buying Lynda's content delivery platform (the technology) as opposed to seeing value in the existing portfolio of courses (the copyrights). It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm somewhat saddened that a controversial company like LinkedIn (UI dark patterns, creepy privacy invasions) was the one who bought them. I would have preferred a company like github (synergy with code sharing) or Apple (enhance iTunesU) to do it. Unfortunately, github doesn't have the cash/stock and Apple is busy with more grandiose plans. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn#Acquisitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn#Acquisitions [2]http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-0.html?previousCategory=29 http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-...
- Someone1234 12y ago
  > It was very recently (last year or so) that Lynda started doing more business courses That's provably untrue even according to your own source [0] (when sorted by oldest first). They have videos from 2010 in their business skills section like "Pitching Projects and Products to Executives." And many added in 2011. Heck I myself watched several business courses on Lynda over three years ago... [0] http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-0.html?sort=1&previousCategory=29 http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-...
  - jasode 12y ago
    Sorry I didn't make it clear. I wrote "more" as in "more business courses" to indicate an uptick in frequency. I wasn't claiming they had zero business courses before 2014. EDIT ADD: Lynda.com also see themselves as strategically expanding into more business, marketing, professional development, and executive management courses. See their 2014 presentation at 47 seconds: https://youtu.be/qlYKbfjru5I?t=47s https://youtu.be/qlYKbfjru5I?t=47s
aurora72 12y ago
Wonder how they will be able to compete with free online courses, there are plenty of them and they're just as quality. I also wonder how Linked-in itself can compete with other social networks.
- smackfu 12y ago
  Weren't they already a viable business competing with free online courses?
- jonknee 12y ago
  Considering Lynda has been competing with them for two decades, I'm sure they'll do OK.
  - aurora72 12y ago
    Didn't know they were for 20 years, I've just taken a look at Lynda'a wikipedia entry and oh yes they've been for 20 years, that's interesting. But revenue at $100M/year and acquisiton at $1,5B is more interesting. Still wonder how they'll compete with hundreds of good quality and free online courses, free badges, Mozilla certifications, etc. Good luck to them.
- Someone1234 12y ago
  > Wonder how they will be able to compete with free online courses, there are plenty of them and they're just as quality. The quality is the same, but most free online courses are their own worst enemy. Sites like Lynda and Pluralsight, once you pay the price of admission, give you what I call the "Netflix experience." Essentially click any video you want, bored? No biggy find another. There's absolutely zero barrier to entry and no guilt associated with it. Some free places do it well, like Berkley [0], and more or less anyone dumping onto YT. Because in those cases there is no registration, no "guilt" if you don't attend "class" and complete a "test" you just turn up, watch a few videos and leave. However a lot of free training is trying to reproduce the actual college experience to their detriment. Coursera[1] is a perfect example. You have to register for a specific class, then turn up to watch it every week, do tests at specific times, and they guilt the shit out of you over email if you get bored after a few lectures (and have "limited" spots in a class). Honestly paying Lynda $25/month was fine because of how frictionless the entire experience became after that. Ditto with Netflix/HBO GO (and why I cancelled Hulu+). [0] http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ [1] https://www.coursera.org/ https://www.coursera.org/
Someone1234 12y ago
This, to me, is terrible news. I am a big fan of Lynda.com. They've always had a great library (both for tech' stuff but are also one of few sites that offer non-tech video training (business courses, photography, etc) and their prices were always very reasonable. LinkedIn can only make the site worse as far as I am concerned, and I already avoid LinkedIn due to the fact that they've essentially become spammers who work to allow other spammers to spam you. That's all they are, a giant spam platform at this point. So too bad about Lynda. It will be greatly missed (by me).
- jasallen 12y ago
  Totally agree. I simply cannot see Lynda.com's current (amazing) setup blending well with LinkedIn. Lynda.com is going the way of the History Channel.
  - brazzledazzle 12y ago
    I think it's less about changing Lynda.com and more about driving people towards it as a revenue stream for LinkedIn. "LinkedIn Trained and Certified with <X>". Promote those profiles and stick a fat enough badge on them and people will pay. Some money and a few hours to sit through some videos and maybe a test will be seen as a small price to pay for someone looking for an edge.
  - puranjay 12y ago
    Wait until you start seeing neverending Lynda.com spam now. "Your LinkedIn contact checked out a new course", or something similar
- ladybro 12y ago
  This. The free Lynda membership I get through my University has been incredibly helpful in understanding things I'm studying as well as diving into new topics. I really, really don't want to see it changed/ruined by LinkedIn :(
- Raphmedia 12y ago
  My first reaction was also "oh no!". That being said, it could be interesting if Lynda course completions could be linked to a linkedin profile or something similar. Gives some power to self-learners.
calinet6 12y ago
Congratulations Lynda.com! Story time. When I was in high school, I worked in a little computer lab in my small hometown of Ojai, California, that taught classes in Photoshop, Fireworks, web design and development, Flash, and more. That little technology education company was just called "Lynda," and classes were taught directly by Lynda Weinman, Bruce Heavin, and others. There were maybe ten or twelve employees. I learned a lot from them over two summers about the intersection of development and design, about teaching and working with people, and so much more. It launched my interest in user experience design and development. Not to mention the epic LAN parties we used to have in that computer lab with all the top-of-the-line graphics workstations... good times. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I'm so genuinely happy to see their success. They were the nicest people to work with, and I'm sure that remained true as they grew. Congrats to these guys, and I hope they find a good place with LinkedIn.
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  I remember reading her "creative html design" book back about 20 years ago (it was from 1997); that book was a work of art. The techniques may have changed somewhat but the sites in there would likely be acceptable today I suspect (which either shows how little progress we have made, or how well the book was written!)
  - neovive 12y ago
    That was a very inspiring book. She was a pioneer in the field of web design and it's great to see their success. I'm a long time Lynda.com member and I hope they continue to produce the same quality courses going forward.
- p1esk 12y ago
  Wow, I subscribed to my first lynda.com class while working in a high school in Ojai! That was at Villanova, 2004 or 2005, Dreamweaver 4 class.
- jonah 12y ago
  Righton. I was at MetaTools/MetaCreations just down the road in Carpinteria. Lynda ran the Bryce Camp and Painter training courses for us. Some of her very first ones. The current Lynda.com HQ is now in Carpinteria - right across the highway from the old Meta offices off Bailard Ave.
SloopJon 12y ago
Much has been made of online education's mini bubble, with an emphasis on MOOcs like Coursera, Udacity, and edX. Having taken several of these classes, it all seemed kind of silly to me. They're great for curiosity and continuing education, but nowhere near replacing a college degree. Seeing the kind of money that's going into these ventures, there are obviously people still betting big. I think they face a real challenge marketing these classes and certifications as valuable to the students and employers. Coursera used to award a free statement of accomplishment (a PDF, basically). The classes that I've taken recently only recognize students who pay for a verified certificate. The fee is really small, but it's not really worth anything to me. I've very much enjoyed having free access to so many different classes. I don't know whether it's sustainable as is, but I fear that an acquisition like this may step up the pressure to monetize, show a profit, etc.
jonknee 12y ago
Seems like there is room for some integration (not sure about $1.5B worth of integration, but hey).
onhopwood 12y ago
This could be interesting if you of it think from the ideal, that college traditional education is becoming an outdated format and project based learning is leading the way to gain real world experience. Now job seekers are creating a blank linked-in profile, taking and finishing some online course to show there skills, while automatically generating their resumes and profiles for employers to see.
lydialiu 12y ago
linked in buy lynda.com, and it provides online training based on the skill categories. It is innovative.Actually I never use lynda.com before. Hope the sessions will be continuous, informative and effective.
lydialiu 12y ago
linked in buy lynda.com, and it provides online training based on the skill categories. It is innovative.Actually I never use lynda.com before. Hope the sessions will be continuous, informative and effective.
lydialiu 12y ago
linked in buy lynda.com, and it provides online training based on the skill categories. It is innovative.Actually I never use lynda.com before. Hope the sessions will be continuous, informative and effective.
Nktakumi 12y ago
Codeschool acquired by Pluralsight, Lynda acquired by LinkedIn. What's next, Treehouse?
- stephen 12y ago
  That's the goal of startups, right? (Or IPO, but that is rare.)
z3t4 12y ago
Whenever I want to learn something I just search on the Internet or ask experiences people to recommend a book. Or lookup what course literature the well known schools are using. What are the benefit of online courses more then that you get a badge or paper that says you have taken the course?
- edgarvaldes 12y ago
  Some people prefer an structured learning path. You can build it yourself, or you can go to sites like Lynda.com.
ahmedali972 12y ago
ahmedali972
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Aoyagi 12y ago
Isn't this a good time to recapitulate the things why LinkedIn is not exactly ideal social network? I forgot most of it, other than how they scour through people's address books.
ausjke 12y ago
Why not udemy/coursera/udacity? Lynda is great but seems a bit "old-style", but anyway I think this is the right move, a job site companied by training
- UUMMUU 12y ago
  Dunno udemy. Coursera seems to offer more of an academic lesson plan (learn linear algebra, algorithms, history of modern China) which doesn't seem very applicable to a specific tech job. These are more for people who want to learn for the joy of learning. (Same thing would be said about edX although I think it's owned by the schools (could be wrong)) I would say they didn't go after Udacity most likely because of the small, and also younger, user base where as Lynda.com seems to appeal to more of the people who want to transition out of a job into another job. This is all pure speculation though as I've only done a few courses on udacity and coursera and actually never done any on Lynda.com but have known people who have.
- wwweston 12y ago
  > Lynda is great but seems a bit "old-style" Can you be more specific about ways in which their offerings fail to measure up to current competitors or the potential of current technology?
caseysoftware 12y ago
At first, I was thinking the same as many others "this is terrible news!" but then I started thinking about the data that LinkedIn has and how they could apply it to Lynda.com Imagine some scenarios: - You are looking at a job. Based on the requirements, LinkedIn can recommend different Lynda courses you may take. Now, instead of meeting some of the requirements and not knowing the next step, you can fill those gaps. - LinkedIn knows what people are endorsed for and who is "similar" to you. Based on that, they can make recommendations for courses that may improve/expand your skills to become more like the other person.. or potentially stand out from that person. - You're posting a job. Instead of broadcasting it to the world, you can filter it to "promote to people who have skill X listed or who have taken one of these Y courses." Now you're more likely to get a better qualified set of candidates. Disclosure: Two time Lynda author here.
chocksy 12y ago
Whaaattt? What are they going to do with it? It seems like linkedin is trying to get into teamtreehouse + facebook.
fillskills 12y ago
This is a very bad day for me. I was working on the integration of skills and education at fillskills.com. Serves me well since I gave up on it because of various reasons. Mostly because I was afraid of what people would say when I launched. This is great for education in general though. Imagine finding the skills to you need to build your career and then the exact education to build it with.
aerialcombat 12y ago
RIP Lynda.com
neovive 12y ago
A wonder if it's a coincidence that the latest video published today is: Up and Running with LinkedIn. Seriously, as a long time Lynda.com subscriber, I've noticed a steady increase in the volume of courses in the "business" category. As a designer/developer, I find some of the business videos quite interesting and a nice expansion beyond their core design-centric courses. I definitely see the synergies, but am a bit concerned that a company the size of LI is going to slowly move away from the designer/developer focused videos to certification-oriented courses; more of a direct competitor to Udacity's Nanodegrees and Coursera's Specialization Certificates. However, there are much better options these days for targeted developer video courses (e.g. Egghead, Tuts+, Laracasts, etc.). This was a great exit for Lynda.com--they have built up an amazing brand over many years. LI brings such a massive scale with great channels to monetize courses beyond subscriptions. Enticing a relatively small percentage of the LI user base to upgrade to a new paid subscription tier justifies the cost; not even considering the additional opportunities this creates for both employers and job seekers.
- aoakenfo 12y ago
  Same. I was just looking at the new courses last night on Lynda...all business-oriented. I left the site with relief that I had canceled my membership. With the acquisition news this morning I see now why new developer courses have been lacking.
brudgers 12y ago
To me, this is another sign of most Linkedin profiles gradually becoming just another resume on the web and LinkedIn as the next web generation's soft-core version of Monster.com. LinkedIn isn't a social network because having a LinkedIn profile is mostly about required maintenance. The main activity is updating [and rolling back spurious skill endorsements]. Integrating online education is just another recruiter platform service. Professional colleagues don't care if I took a PhotoShop class online.
jordhy 12y ago
I'm so happy for Linda. I think most old timers like me learned with her books! She rocks.
bstar77 12y ago
Linda.com is one of those rare companies that has tempered assaults on their business model from every flank by sticking to what they do best and have somehow managed to come out shining. Seriously, these guys were founded in 1995, they've been through all of the web turmoil and still managed to improve their technology offerings and stay relevant. Not sure what this acquisition means, but I hope things don't change much.
- btzll 12y ago
  *Lynda.com
  - bstar77 12y ago
    thanks, stupid autocorrect
shahocean 12y ago
What can be LinkedIn's take on this?
- kjw 12y ago
  From LinkedIn's conference call: Strategic rationale: - Believes that the acquisition of lynda.com will be an important step to fulfilling LinkedIn's vision of developing an "economic graph" - Views lynda.com as essential for professionals to advance their skill sets - Believes that acquisition of lynda.com will expand the addressable opportunity by 30B into corporate employee education and professional certifications market - Believes that by leveraging LinkedIn's professional context, content distribution platform and channel focused base of customers, LinkedIn is well positioned to become leader in learning and development market - Believes the mission and strategy of lynda.com is aligned with LinkedIn and will help integrate lynda.com into their business - Sees lynda.com having large traction on university campuses which overlaps with LinkedIn's strength looks to capitalize on overlapping presence Financial details: - Primary focus will be maximizing long-term member and business value over short term financial results - Views lynda.com revenue mix as 2/3 consumer driven subscriptions and 1/3 corporate enterprise - 50% of customer base is higher education in government and other 50% is corporate enterprise - Sees lynda.com business model made up of 70% gross margin, ~20% content / engineering and ~35% Sales and marketing with EBITDA margins of 5-10%
  - _sword 12y ago
    What's good StreetAccounts highlights
Htsthbjig 12y ago
oh, sh*t, no! I loved the site. Now I will have to add it to the long list of companies that got bought and lost their essence, like cdbaby, reddit, or digg. I started using whassapp in order to scape facebook. Now those bubble monsters are acquiring everything they can while money is free.
- UUMMUU 12y ago
  Honestly, I am one of the masses who thinks LinkedIn is Monster 2.0 but you can't say it's going to be crap just because a crap company bought it. Just wait and see, keep being an active supporter until they change something you don't like and stop. Them losing users is the best way to affect change. Also, throwing Reddit into that category is unfair, true reddit changed but it's grown into something useful if you know where to go (avoid /r/funny aka /r/thingshighschoolersthinkarefunny)
dd367 12y ago
I'm 100% sure LinkedIn probably offered to buy Coursera at a similar price: 1. A lot of Coursera's engineers are LinkedIn veterans. 2. Coursera is arguably a much better quality and more highly regarded education platform than Lynda. 3. Coursera certifications were something LinkedIn and Coursera were actively working on. I would imagine that Coursera refused because their vision of education is much broader than what they might have been able to achieve within LinkedIn. What do you guys think?
- GCA10 12y ago
  Coursera doesn't monetize nearly as well.
alejoriveralara 12y ago
Really happy to see big exits in the Edtech space. Hope this brings more entrepreneurs to the industry!

320 points by qnk 12y ago

No idea on valuations on this but seems kinda crazy to pay so much when all of the various free MOOC offerings seem to be getting better and better. Realize there's a difference motivation-wise when you actually have to pay and that "learn how to do x" vs "learn about the subject x is under" has value but don't know if $1.5bn is that difference. I see great value for Linkedin users if there's some "official" certification for skills learned through Lynda services that leads to them being more marketable. That's pretty exciting.

rtpg 12y ago
The Lynda.com courses aren't like MOOCs. They're not classes on theory, but rather condensed practical things, to get you up and running quickly. They're really aimed at working people catching up on new tech/learning the bases of new skills. I do recommend the service if you want to figure out how to get started quickly with things like final cut or whatnot. It's realllly high quality stuff condensed into 2h or so
- bennesvig 12y ago
  Agreed. I found Lynda.com to be amazing for learning programs like Final Cut in a very short amount of time.
- whatok 12y ago
  I realize what Lynda courses are like and have done some in the past which is why I mentioned the "learn how to do x" concept in my post. Other non-traditional MOOC services offered by non-college institutions have a lot of programs mirroring or closely resembling the Lynda approach. There's also zero reason why Coursera and the like would not be able to pivot into this area.
  - rtpg 12y ago
    Ah, sorry, I misread how you wrote that. My impression has been that Coursera is really about applying Socrate's (or is it Aristotle's) dream: free classical education for all. Learning about Final Cut Pro is great, but getting classes on general machine learning ( at least ones that are worth more than a 2000 word blog post) generally require going to a school with a 5 digit price tag. I think Coursera and Lynda aren't trying to compete with each other on that end.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

kirinan 12y ago

This is a pretty interesting acquisition. Linkedin is trying to position themselves as a full service job market. If you want a particular job, go to Linkedin and even if you are missing a few skills you can pick it up on their site and get "Linkedin Certified". This provides Linkedin with a series of "Linkedin Certified Professionals" that recruiters need to pay to get access to. It's an interesting position to be in: desired from both sides of the equation (Job Seekers and Recruiters/Talent Sourcers).

jkestner 12y ago
Does MCSE still pull weight? Are there newer certifications that matter now? What fields do you think will benefit from this certification? In design (one of Lynda's pillars), half of hireability is portfolio. I suppose in production roles, you'd want to know you're hiring technically proficient people, but that too you can mostly tell from the work. Perhaps this works as well, or better, from the angle of "People who had this skill got looked at 3x more than you. Go get that skill."
- kirinan 12y ago
  I think in some realms MCSE does pull some weight, such as large financial institutions and non-tech companies. There are newer certificates such as those from Coursera and Udacity that are starting to pull more and more weight from the industry, mainly tech though. The main fields that benefit from this are business and technology. Human resources and recruiters tend not to be technical: they have no idea if you actually know Java or not. They simply know you have it on your resume. This gives them at least some peace of mind that you know at least some Java. Conversely, Business people can be evaluated on whether they know how to do basic things like rate of return or efficiency metrics. This does help in that realm, but it helps in giving some people confidence as well. Some people have imposters syndrome so a certificate saying they know it alleviates that feeling.
- ForHackernews 12y ago
  I had always heard that MCSE was considered a joke. I've heard positive things about RHCE and some of the Cisco networking certs, but I haven't been around that world for several years now.

gz5 12y ago

One of the many steps we will see that will have a net effect of disintermediating traditional secondary education. With companies like LinkedIn filling an Uber type role. It used to be that the secondary degree was the middle man between employee and employer (for many professions). Certifications from companies like Microsoft and Cisco changed this in some realms. MOOCs and companies like Lynda expanded to different sectors. Now layers like LinkedIn can essentially be the Uber between employers and the myriad of certifications and degrees that will be available to employees. An Uber layer for connection, credibility, aggregation, certification, etc. I don't believe traditional secondary education gets completely disintermediated. But I believe the landscape becomes much more heterogeneous, which is a good thing.

tosh 12y ago

Very smart move. LinkedIn == career. This might mean heavy competition for Coursera & others going forward.

S4M 12y ago
They could very well partner. Let's say you are a recruiter looking for someone who knows machine learning and is based (or wiling to move to) a certain place. A quick search on linkedin and you are shown, amongst others, all the candidates who completed the Machine Learning course on Coursera and match your location criteria. And the other way works as well: if you completed an online course and tell linkedin about it, it can indicate you positions in your area were your new skills could be useful.

ThomPete 12y ago

Congrats to Lynda.com a service I can't recommend enough if you want to get started with programming. It's been around forever and the quality is amazing. I learned to program using it and I always recommend people to use it if they can afford it. Going to be interesting to see where they will take this.

DanAndersen 12y ago
I'm also a fan of Lynda.com's tutorials. One thing to mention to anyone out there is to see if your workplace offers access to Lynda to employees. The university I work at does, and it's nice to have that as a resource.
- ThomPete 12y ago
  Agree. I used to run a design agency, we offered that to our employees it was a great way for people to keep up with various trends and actually much more effective than to send them at courses (which we also offered).

smackfu 12y ago

Wonder if they will cut their podcast ad budget... they are one of the big advertisers on tech podcasts.

junto 12y ago

I wonder if Pluralsight is also on their target list?

calinet6 12y ago
I don't believe that's a cultural mesh that would work.
n-exploit 12y ago
And with the rate at which Pluralsight is acquiring other companies, it'd be a lot more expensive than 1.5B
petercooper 12y ago
Maybe, but Pluralsight looks more like it's aiming for an IPO to me. They've made quite a few acquisitions but then not really integrated them much into the core product - mostly adding big lumps of subscribers and revenue to their numbers which looks better for an IPO than an acquisition.

rasz_pl 12y ago

Daphne Koller must be happy today, this is a huge validation for Coursera business model.

aikah 12y ago
> Daphne Koller must be happy today, this is a huge validation for Coursera business model. makes no sense. It would be like saying Facebook success validates Twitter business model, just because they are both social networks. Lynda doesn't issue certificates if you complete their courses. And AFAIK they don't work directly with universities or colleges. Coursera content is academic, while Lynda.com is practical and focus on specific software and/or technology. Sure they have a few "theory courses", but that's not their core business.
- Zelphyr 12y ago
  From a business standpoint it makes total sense. Investors see Coursera and Lynda as being in the same or similar market so Lynda getting bought helps them clarify the valuation of Coursera if its for sale. If Coursera has taken investment money then it is for sale.
  - aikah 12y ago
    > From a business standpoint it makes total sense. Investors are not idiots. Not saying you are, you might be just misguided. Lynda and Coursera are nothing alike.
sayhar 12y ago
You're thinking of Jeff Fernandez.

jasode 12y ago

As an outsider looking in, LinkedIn's purchase of Lynda.com looks like an odd duck in comparison to their previous acquisitions[1]. As far as I can tell, the Lynda.com brand name isn't that well known outside of tech circles. (Virtually all of their courses are Adobe, Microsoft Office, and web development, etc) I'm guessing those computer courses are relevant to less than 5% of LinkedIn's user base. It was very recently (last year or so) that Lynda started doing more business courses[2] (how to calculate ROI, how to write a business plan, etc) Since those business courses are probably their thinnest and weakest offerings, I can only speculate that it was a partly a "proof-of-concept" to show a prospective acquirer (such as LinkedIn) the breadth of topics the content platform could deliver. In that case, LinkedIn is really buying Lynda's content delivery platform (the technology) as opposed to seeing value in the existing portfolio of courses (the copyrights). It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm somewhat saddened that a controversial company like LinkedIn (UI dark patterns, creepy privacy invasions) was the one who bought them. I would have preferred a company like github (synergy with code sharing) or Apple (enhance iTunesU) to do it. Unfortunately, github doesn't have the cash/stock and Apple is busy with more grandiose plans. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn#Acquisitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn#Acquisitions [2]http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-0.html?previousCategory=29 http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-...

Someone1234 12y ago
> It was very recently (last year or so) that Lynda started doing more business courses That's provably untrue even according to your own source [0] (when sorted by oldest first). They have videos from 2010 in their business skills section like "Pitching Projects and Products to Executives." And many added in 2011. Heck I myself watched several business courses on Lynda over three years ago... [0] http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-0.html?sort=1&previousCategory=29 http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-training-tutorials/484-...
- jasode 12y ago
  Sorry I didn't make it clear. I wrote "more" as in "more business courses" to indicate an uptick in frequency. I wasn't claiming they had zero business courses before 2014. EDIT ADD: Lynda.com also see themselves as strategically expanding into more business, marketing, professional development, and executive management courses. See their 2014 presentation at 47 seconds: https://youtu.be/qlYKbfjru5I?t=47s https://youtu.be/qlYKbfjru5I?t=47s

aurora72 12y ago

Wonder how they will be able to compete with free online courses, there are plenty of them and they're just as quality. I also wonder how Linked-in itself can compete with other social networks.

smackfu 12y ago
Weren't they already a viable business competing with free online courses?
jonknee 12y ago
Considering Lynda has been competing with them for two decades, I'm sure they'll do OK.
- aurora72 12y ago
  Didn't know they were for 20 years, I've just taken a look at Lynda'a wikipedia entry and oh yes they've been for 20 years, that's interesting. But revenue at $100M/year and acquisiton at $1,5B is more interesting. Still wonder how they'll compete with hundreds of good quality and free online courses, free badges, Mozilla certifications, etc. Good luck to them.
Someone1234 12y ago
> Wonder how they will be able to compete with free online courses, there are plenty of them and they're just as quality. The quality is the same, but most free online courses are their own worst enemy. Sites like Lynda and Pluralsight, once you pay the price of admission, give you what I call the "Netflix experience." Essentially click any video you want, bored? No biggy find another. There's absolutely zero barrier to entry and no guilt associated with it. Some free places do it well, like Berkley [0], and more or less anyone dumping onto YT. Because in those cases there is no registration, no "guilt" if you don't attend "class" and complete a "test" you just turn up, watch a few videos and leave. However a lot of free training is trying to reproduce the actual college experience to their detriment. Coursera[1] is a perfect example. You have to register for a specific class, then turn up to watch it every week, do tests at specific times, and they guilt the shit out of you over email if you get bored after a few lectures (and have "limited" spots in a class). Honestly paying Lynda $25/month was fine because of how frictionless the entire experience became after that. Ditto with Netflix/HBO GO (and why I cancelled Hulu+). [0] http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ [1] https://www.coursera.org/ https://www.coursera.org/

Someone1234 12y ago

This, to me, is terrible news. I am a big fan of Lynda.com. They've always had a great library (both for tech' stuff but are also one of few sites that offer non-tech video training (business courses, photography, etc) and their prices were always very reasonable. LinkedIn can only make the site worse as far as I am concerned, and I already avoid LinkedIn due to the fact that they've essentially become spammers who work to allow other spammers to spam you. That's all they are, a giant spam platform at this point. So too bad about Lynda. It will be greatly missed (by me).

jasallen 12y ago
Totally agree. I simply cannot see Lynda.com's current (amazing) setup blending well with LinkedIn. Lynda.com is going the way of the History Channel.
- brazzledazzle 12y ago
  I think it's less about changing Lynda.com and more about driving people towards it as a revenue stream for LinkedIn. "LinkedIn Trained and Certified with <X>". Promote those profiles and stick a fat enough badge on them and people will pay. Some money and a few hours to sit through some videos and maybe a test will be seen as a small price to pay for someone looking for an edge.
- puranjay 12y ago
  Wait until you start seeing neverending Lynda.com spam now. "Your LinkedIn contact checked out a new course", or something similar
ladybro 12y ago
This. The free Lynda membership I get through my University has been incredibly helpful in understanding things I'm studying as well as diving into new topics. I really, really don't want to see it changed/ruined by LinkedIn :(
Raphmedia 12y ago
My first reaction was also "oh no!". That being said, it could be interesting if Lynda course completions could be linked to a linkedin profile or something similar. Gives some power to self-learners.

calinet6 12y ago

Congratulations Lynda.com! Story time. When I was in high school, I worked in a little computer lab in my small hometown of Ojai, California, that taught classes in Photoshop, Fireworks, web design and development, Flash, and more. That little technology education company was just called "Lynda," and classes were taught directly by Lynda Weinman, Bruce Heavin, and others. There were maybe ten or twelve employees. I learned a lot from them over two summers about the intersection of development and design, about teaching and working with people, and so much more. It launched my interest in user experience design and development. Not to mention the epic LAN parties we used to have in that computer lab with all the top-of-the-line graphics workstations... good times. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I'm so genuinely happy to see their success. They were the nicest people to work with, and I'm sure that remained true as they grew. Congrats to these guys, and I hope they find a good place with LinkedIn.

72deluxe 12y ago
I remember reading her "creative html design" book back about 20 years ago (it was from 1997); that book was a work of art. The techniques may have changed somewhat but the sites in there would likely be acceptable today I suspect (which either shows how little progress we have made, or how well the book was written!)
- neovive 12y ago
  That was a very inspiring book. She was a pioneer in the field of web design and it's great to see their success. I'm a long time Lynda.com member and I hope they continue to produce the same quality courses going forward.
p1esk 12y ago
Wow, I subscribed to my first lynda.com class while working in a high school in Ojai! That was at Villanova, 2004 or 2005, Dreamweaver 4 class.
jonah 12y ago
Righton. I was at MetaTools/MetaCreations just down the road in Carpinteria. Lynda ran the Bryce Camp and Painter training courses for us. Some of her very first ones. The current Lynda.com HQ is now in Carpinteria - right across the highway from the old Meta offices off Bailard Ave.

SloopJon 12y ago

Much has been made of online education's mini bubble, with an emphasis on MOOcs like Coursera, Udacity, and edX. Having taken several of these classes, it all seemed kind of silly to me. They're great for curiosity and continuing education, but nowhere near replacing a college degree. Seeing the kind of money that's going into these ventures, there are obviously people still betting big. I think they face a real challenge marketing these classes and certifications as valuable to the students and employers. Coursera used to award a free statement of accomplishment (a PDF, basically). The classes that I've taken recently only recognize students who pay for a verified certificate. The fee is really small, but it's not really worth anything to me. I've very much enjoyed having free access to so many different classes. I don't know whether it's sustainable as is, but I fear that an acquisition like this may step up the pressure to monetize, show a profit, etc.

jonknee 12y ago

Seems like there is room for some integration (not sure about $1.5B worth of integration, but hey).

onhopwood 12y ago

This could be interesting if you of it think from the ideal, that college traditional education is becoming an outdated format and project based learning is leading the way to gain real world experience. Now job seekers are creating a blank linked-in profile, taking and finishing some online course to show there skills, while automatically generating their resumes and profiles for employers to see.

lydialiu 12y ago

linked in buy lynda.com, and it provides online training based on the skill categories. It is innovative.Actually I never use lynda.com before. Hope the sessions will be continuous, informative and effective.

lydialiu 12y ago

Nktakumi 12y ago

Codeschool acquired by Pluralsight, Lynda acquired by LinkedIn. What's next, Treehouse?

stephen 12y ago
That's the goal of startups, right? (Or IPO, but that is rare.)

z3t4 12y ago

Whenever I want to learn something I just search on the Internet or ask experiences people to recommend a book. Or lookup what course literature the well known schools are using. What are the benefit of online courses more then that you get a badge or paper that says you have taken the course?

edgarvaldes 12y ago
Some people prefer an structured learning path. You can build it yourself, or you can go to sites like Lynda.com.

ahmedali972 12y ago

ahmedali972

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Aoyagi 12y ago

Isn't this a good time to recapitulate the things why LinkedIn is not exactly ideal social network? I forgot most of it, other than how they scour through people's address books.

ausjke 12y ago

Why not udemy/coursera/udacity? Lynda is great but seems a bit "old-style", but anyway I think this is the right move, a job site companied by training

UUMMUU 12y ago
Dunno udemy. Coursera seems to offer more of an academic lesson plan (learn linear algebra, algorithms, history of modern China) which doesn't seem very applicable to a specific tech job. These are more for people who want to learn for the joy of learning. (Same thing would be said about edX although I think it's owned by the schools (could be wrong)) I would say they didn't go after Udacity most likely because of the small, and also younger, user base where as Lynda.com seems to appeal to more of the people who want to transition out of a job into another job. This is all pure speculation though as I've only done a few courses on udacity and coursera and actually never done any on Lynda.com but have known people who have.
wwweston 12y ago
> Lynda is great but seems a bit "old-style" Can you be more specific about ways in which their offerings fail to measure up to current competitors or the potential of current technology?

caseysoftware 12y ago

At first, I was thinking the same as many others "this is terrible news!" but then I started thinking about the data that LinkedIn has and how they could apply it to Lynda.com Imagine some scenarios: - You are looking at a job. Based on the requirements, LinkedIn can recommend different Lynda courses you may take. Now, instead of meeting some of the requirements and not knowing the next step, you can fill those gaps. - LinkedIn knows what people are endorsed for and who is "similar" to you. Based on that, they can make recommendations for courses that may improve/expand your skills to become more like the other person.. or potentially stand out from that person. - You're posting a job. Instead of broadcasting it to the world, you can filter it to "promote to people who have skill X listed or who have taken one of these Y courses." Now you're more likely to get a better qualified set of candidates. Disclosure: Two time Lynda author here.

chocksy 12y ago

Whaaattt? What are they going to do with it? It seems like linkedin is trying to get into teamtreehouse + facebook.

fillskills 12y ago

This is a very bad day for me. I was working on the integration of skills and education at fillskills.com. Serves me well since I gave up on it because of various reasons. Mostly because I was afraid of what people would say when I launched. This is great for education in general though. Imagine finding the skills to you need to build your career and then the exact education to build it with.

aerialcombat 12y ago

RIP Lynda.com

neovive 12y ago

A wonder if it's a coincidence that the latest video published today is: Up and Running with LinkedIn. Seriously, as a long time Lynda.com subscriber, I've noticed a steady increase in the volume of courses in the "business" category. As a designer/developer, I find some of the business videos quite interesting and a nice expansion beyond their core design-centric courses. I definitely see the synergies, but am a bit concerned that a company the size of LI is going to slowly move away from the designer/developer focused videos to certification-oriented courses; more of a direct competitor to Udacity's Nanodegrees and Coursera's Specialization Certificates. However, there are much better options these days for targeted developer video courses (e.g. Egghead, Tuts+, Laracasts, etc.). This was a great exit for Lynda.com--they have built up an amazing brand over many years. LI brings such a massive scale with great channels to monetize courses beyond subscriptions. Enticing a relatively small percentage of the LI user base to upgrade to a new paid subscription tier justifies the cost; not even considering the additional opportunities this creates for both employers and job seekers.

aoakenfo 12y ago
Same. I was just looking at the new courses last night on Lynda...all business-oriented. I left the site with relief that I had canceled my membership. With the acquisition news this morning I see now why new developer courses have been lacking.

brudgers 12y ago

To me, this is another sign of most Linkedin profiles gradually becoming just another resume on the web and LinkedIn as the next web generation's soft-core version of Monster.com. LinkedIn isn't a social network because having a LinkedIn profile is mostly about required maintenance. The main activity is updating [and rolling back spurious skill endorsements]. Integrating online education is just another recruiter platform service. Professional colleagues don't care if I took a PhotoShop class online.

jordhy 12y ago

I'm so happy for Linda. I think most old timers like me learned with her books! She rocks.

bstar77 12y ago

Linda.com is one of those rare companies that has tempered assaults on their business model from every flank by sticking to what they do best and have somehow managed to come out shining. Seriously, these guys were founded in 1995, they've been through all of the web turmoil and still managed to improve their technology offerings and stay relevant. Not sure what this acquisition means, but I hope things don't change much.

btzll 12y ago
*Lynda.com
- bstar77 12y ago
  thanks, stupid autocorrect

shahocean 12y ago

What can be LinkedIn's take on this?

kjw 12y ago
From LinkedIn's conference call: Strategic rationale: - Believes that the acquisition of lynda.com will be an important step to fulfilling LinkedIn's vision of developing an "economic graph" - Views lynda.com as essential for professionals to advance their skill sets - Believes that acquisition of lynda.com will expand the addressable opportunity by 30B into corporate employee education and professional certifications market - Believes that by leveraging LinkedIn's professional context, content distribution platform and channel focused base of customers, LinkedIn is well positioned to become leader in learning and development market - Believes the mission and strategy of lynda.com is aligned with LinkedIn and will help integrate lynda.com into their business - Sees lynda.com having large traction on university campuses which overlaps with LinkedIn's strength looks to capitalize on overlapping presence Financial details: - Primary focus will be maximizing long-term member and business value over short term financial results - Views lynda.com revenue mix as 2/3 consumer driven subscriptions and 1/3 corporate enterprise - 50% of customer base is higher education in government and other 50% is corporate enterprise - Sees lynda.com business model made up of 70% gross margin, ~20% content / engineering and ~35% Sales and marketing with EBITDA margins of 5-10%
- _sword 12y ago
  What's good StreetAccounts highlights

Htsthbjig 12y ago

oh, sh*t, no! I loved the site. Now I will have to add it to the long list of companies that got bought and lost their essence, like cdbaby, reddit, or digg. I started using whassapp in order to scape facebook. Now those bubble monsters are acquiring everything they can while money is free.

UUMMUU 12y ago
Honestly, I am one of the masses who thinks LinkedIn is Monster 2.0 but you can't say it's going to be crap just because a crap company bought it. Just wait and see, keep being an active supporter until they change something you don't like and stop. Them losing users is the best way to affect change. Also, throwing Reddit into that category is unfair, true reddit changed but it's grown into something useful if you know where to go (avoid /r/funny aka /r/thingshighschoolersthinkarefunny)

dd367 12y ago

I'm 100% sure LinkedIn probably offered to buy Coursera at a similar price: 1. A lot of Coursera's engineers are LinkedIn veterans. 2. Coursera is arguably a much better quality and more highly regarded education platform than Lynda. 3. Coursera certifications were something LinkedIn and Coursera were actively working on. I would imagine that Coursera refused because their vision of education is much broader than what they might have been able to achieve within LinkedIn. What do you guys think?

GCA10 12y ago
Coursera doesn't monetize nearly as well.

alejoriveralara 12y ago

Really happy to see big exits in the Edtech space. Hope this brings more entrepreneurs to the industry!