LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is an American online learning platform. It provides video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. All the courses on LinkedIn fall into four categories: Business, Creative, Technology, and Certifications.
 | |
| Formerly | Lynda.com (1995-2017) |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | E-learning |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founders | Lynda Weinman Bruce Heavin |
| Headquarters | |
| Services | Online education Online publishing |
| Owner | Microsoft |
| Parent | |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
It was founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman as Lynda.com before being acquired by LinkedIn in 2015 and becoming LinkedIn Learning.[2] Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in December 2016.[3]
History
LinkedIn Learning was founded as Lynda.com in 1995 in Ojai, California, as online support for the books and classes of Lynda Weinman, a special effects animator and multimedia professor who founded a digital arts school with her husband, artist Bruce Heavin.[4]
In 2002, the company began offering courses online.[5] By 2004, there were 100 courses, and in 2008, the company began producing and publishing documentaries on creative leaders, artists, and entrepreneurs.[6]
In 2013, Lynda.com received its first outside investment, raising $103 million (~$120 million in 2021) in growth equity from Accel Partners and Spectrum Equity, with additional contributions from Meritech Capital Partners.[7] On January 14, 2015, Lynda.com announced it had raised $186 million (~$210 million in 2021) in financing, led by investment group TPG Capital.[8]
On April 9, 2015, LinkedIn announced its intention to buy Lynda.com in a deal valued at $1.5 billion, which officially closed on May 14, 2015.[9]
In 2016, Lynda.com began to broadcast courses on their Apple TV application.[10]
On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Lynda.com's parent company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion (~$29.3 billion in 2021). The acquisition was completed on December 8, 2016.[11][12][13]
In October 2017, Lynda.com was merged and renamed LinkedIn Learning.[14] In 2019, the site announced that users accessing LinkedIn Learning through their public library would be required to create a LinkedIn profile in order to use the service; the decision faced criticism from librarians and the American Library Association.[15][16][17] As of March 2021, libraries started migrating to LinkedIn Learning without requiring patrons to create a LinkedIn profile.[18]
On June 2, 2021, the lynda.com site was shutdown and is now permanently redirected to LinkedIn Learning.[19]
Acquisitions
In February 2013, Lynda.com acquired video2brain, an Austrian-based provider of online classes in web design and programming, available in German, French, Spanish, and English.[20]
On April 7, 2014, Lynda.com purchased Canadian startup Compilr, provider of an online editor and sandbox.[21]
Service details
LinkedIn Learning is a subscription service that costs $40/month or $25/month if paid annually (as of 2021). It has a catalog of 16,000+ courses and learning paths.[19]
References
- "Lynda.com Lands $103 Million in Biggest Education Financing". Bloomberg. 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
- Larson, Selena (2013-12-03). "Lynda.com Founder: I Was Educating Online Before Online Education Was Cool". ReadWrite. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- "LinkedIn CEO: Here's Why I Sold the Company to Microsoft". Time.com.
- Roush, Wade (2013-03-28). "Knowledge When You Need It: Lynda.com and the Rise of Online Education". Xconomy.
- Singel, Ryan (2011-06-17). "A Paywall That Pays Off: How Lynda.com Broke All the Rules and Won". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- Meyer, Stephen J. (2015-05-12). "LinkedIn's Blockbuster Deal With Lynda.com: What It Means To The Online Learning Industry". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- Empson, Rip (2013-01-15). "After 17 Years, Education Platform Lynda.com Raises Its First Round of Funding, $103M From Accel & Spectrum". TechCrunch.
- Singer, Natasha (2015-01-14). "Investors Put $186 Million Into Lynda.com, an Online Tutorial Service". Bits Blog. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- Roslansky, Ryan (2015-04-09). "Welcome to the LinkedIn Family, lynda.com". blog.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
- Yeung, Ken (2016-04-21). "LinkedIn makes all Lynda.com courses available on Apple TV". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- "Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn | News Center" (Press release). Microsoft. June 13, 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn Corporation on Monday announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for $16 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LinkedIn's net cash.
- Greene, Jay (2016-06-14). "Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- Weiner, Jeff (2016-12-08). "LinkedIn + Microsoft: Our Next Play Begins". LinkedIn.
- "Upgrading from Lynda.com to LinkedIn Learning". Lynda.com - from LinkedIn. 2017-10-20. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
- Foley, Mary Jo (August 22, 2019). "Microsoft is moving Lynda.com users to LinkedIn Learning and not everyone's happy about it". ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
- Cimpanu, Catalin (July 23, 2019). "American Library Association blasts LinkedIn for intrusive ToS changes". ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
- Elias, Jennifer (28 August 2019). "Why librarians are up in arms against LinkedIn". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
- "LinkedIn Learning for Library – Patron FAQ". Learning Help. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- Shah, Dhawal (2021-07-12). "LinkedIn Sunsets Lynda.com and Fully Transitions to LinkedIn Learning". The Report by Class Central. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- Heussner, Ki Mae (2013-02-13). "Flush with cash, lynda.com buys European online learning site video2brain". Gigaom. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- Lunden, Ingrid (2014-04-07). "E-Learning Platform Buys Compilr To Add In-Browser Coding Tools, Price Around $20M". TechCrunch.
