Professional social network LinkedIn is getting ready to buy the company behind newsreader app Pulse say people familiar with the matter.
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The deal, reports AllThingsD, will most likely set LinkedIn back tens of millions of dollars with prices between US$50-million and US$100-million being floated.
AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher had previously reported that a deal was in the works and that Microsoft and Yahoo! were also potentially interested.
The San Francisco-based Alphonso Labs, which makes the Pulse apps across a variety of platforms, has raised US$10-million in funding from the likes of Redpoint Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Mayfield Fund, Lightspeed Investment Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Lerer Ventures.
The app lays claim to around 20-million users, who read more than 10-million stories a day.
While the acquisition by LinkedIn might seem odd at first, it does actually make sense. The social network has made a number of changes in recent times that have taken it from an out-and-out tool for connecting with other professionals to a central hub for consuming online content.
A couple of previous acquisitions have helped in that transition. The most high-profile of these up until now saw LinkedIn shell out US$118-million for SlideShare last year.
As Swisher points out LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner also knows a thing or two about content, having headed up Yahoo!’s content division during his tenure there.
