LinkedIn buys Slide Share for $118m

Professional social network LinkedIn has bought out slide-hosting service Slide Share for a just under US$118.5-million.

In a release to investors, LinkedIn confirmed the acquisition saying that the deal would be a “combination of approximately 45% cash and approximately 55% stock”.

The professional network appears to have made the purchase in a bid to get hold of some of Slide Share’s features, particularly considering the release highlights the “nearly 7.4-million presentations hosted by Slide Share are embedded across more than 1.4-million unique domains”.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner’s comments on the deal only back up that line of thought:

Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity. These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We’re very excited to welcome the Slide Share team to LinkedIn.

This isn’t the first acquisition made by LinkedIn this year. In late February, it bought out Rapportive – a Gmail extension that provides people with information about their contacts. According to AllThingsD that deal only cost LinkedIn “low teens” of millions of dollars.