LinkedIn to spend $120 million on job-seeking site Bright
The social network for professionals, LinkedIn, is to acquire Bright, a job-search site that matches employers with potential employees. This is a purchase that makes a lot of sense for LinkedIn, the Facebook of the working world, helping to make it even easier for people to connect across industries. While LinkedIn has around 11 years of experience under its belt, Bright is more a newcomer, having only launched three years ago.
It seems like a perfect pairing. LinkedIn members have their resumes online as part of their profiles. Bright makes use of resumes to link people to jobs. It just seems to make sense. The three year old site is being purchased for what LinkedIn describes as "approximately $120 million, subject to adjustment". This total comprises 73 percent stock and 27 percent cash. The deal is expected to conclude by the end of Q1 2014.
Bright says that it uses "data science to enable the labor market to operate more efficiently" and the decision to join LinkedIn came about "because of what we lacked -- the ability to apply this technology across the entire economy". Founder of Bright, Eduardo Vivas, said: "We're excited to join LinkedIn because the company shares a similar vision and is equally obsessed about using data and algorithms to connect prospects and employers".
LinkedIn already has some experience in trying to pair users up with jobs. As well as suggesting other users who may be known to you, the site also suggests jobs that may be of interest. Over the coming years, and using the technology honed by Bright, the site will be able to suggest more jobs that are even better suited -- employers and employees alike should feel the benefits. LinkedIn's Deep Nishar mused: "What LinkedIn does best is connect talent with opportunity at massive scale". It looks as though that scale is only going to increase.
Image Credit: Maxx-Studio / Shutterstock