LinkedIn Buys Job-Matching Firm Bright in Data-Centric $120M Move

LinkedIn has acquired job-matching and data insight start-up, Bright, in a $120m deal. The move is thought to be a step closer in assisting the social network expand its growing professional content and its talent solutions products.

The deal is the largest by LinkedIn, just eclipsing its $119m deal for SlideShare in 2012, and will be split 27 percent in cash and 73 percent in stock. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.

Vice president of product at LinkedIn, Parker Barrile, wrote in a blog post that the deal was a perfect fit for the two firms as they were both focused on using data to find user matches.

“We’re both passionate about connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale and obsessed with increasing the effectiveness of the job seeking and recruiting processes,” he wrote.

Eduardo Vivas, who founded Bright in 2011, echoed this sentiment: “The company shares a similar vision and is equally obsessed about using data and algorithms to connect prospects and employers.”

The deal was announced alongside fourth-quarter earnings for the firm, with revenues of $447.2m, up 47 percent compared with $303.6 million in Q4 2012.

But LinkedIn’s income slumped, falling from $11.5m in Q4 2012, to $3.8m in Q4 2013. LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner was upbeat about the figures, though, claiming the firm was continuing to improve and was well placed to grow in 2013.

“Solid fourth-quarter performance capped another successful year where improvements in scale and relevance across our platform led to strong member engagement,” he said

“Moving forward, we are investing significantly in a focused number of long-term initiatives that will allow us to realise our vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”

Despite this the fall in revenue spooked investors, with the firm’s share price falling by almost 10 percent in pre-market trading.

LinkedIn now boasts 277 million members and it reported that 41 percent of all its traffic now comes through mobile platforms.

This article was originally published on V3.