LinkedIn to Buy Online Education Site Lynda.com for $1.5B

Post by neovive » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 3:31 PM UTC

72deluxe wrote: post #55

calinet6 wrote: post #21

Congratulations Lynda.com! Story time. When I was in high school, I worked in a little computer lab in my small hometown of Ojai, California, that taught classes in Photoshop, Fireworks, web design and development, Flash, and more. That little technology education company was just called "Lynda," and classes were taught directly by Lynda Weinman, Bruce Heavin, and others. There were maybe ten or twelve employees. I l…

I remember reading her "creative html design" book back about 20 years ago (it was from 1997); that book was a work of art. The techniques may have changed somewhat but the sites in there would likely be acceptable today I suspect (which either shows how little progress we have made, or how well the book was written!)

Post by nl » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 3:46 PM UTC

nly wrote: post #26

jasode wrote: post #16

As an outsider looking in, LinkedIn's purchase of Lynda.com looks like an odd duck in comparison to their previous acquisitions[1]. As far as I can tell, the Lynda.com brand name isn't that well known outside of tech circles. (Virtually all of their courses are Adobe, Microsoft Office, and web development, etc) I'm guessing those computer courses are relevant to less than 5% of LinkedIn's user base. It was very recen…

How can their technology possibly be worth $1.5B?

Post by whatok » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 3:47 PM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #4

whatok wrote: post #2

No idea on valuations on this but seems kinda crazy to pay so much when all of the various free MOOC offerings seem to be getting better and better. Realize there's a difference motivation-wise when you actually have to pay and that "learn how to do x" vs "learn about the subject x is under" has value but don't know if $1.5bn is that difference. I see great value for Linkedin users if there's some "official" certific…

The Lynda.com courses aren't like MOOCs. They're not classes on theory, but rather condensed practical things, to get you up and running quickly. They're really aimed at working people catching up on new tech/learning the bases of new skills. I do recommend the service if you want to figure out how to get started quickly with things like final cut or whatnot. It's realllly high quality stuff condensed into 2h or so

Post by btzll » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 3:58 PM UTC

bstar77 wrote: post #86

Linda.com is one of those rare companies that has tempered assaults on their business model from every flank by sticking to what they do best and have somehow managed to come out shining. Seriously, these guys were founded in 1995, they've been through all of the web turmoil and still managed to improve their technology offerings and stay relevant. Not sure what this acquisition means, but I hope things don't change…

Post by Zelphyr » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 4:27 PM UTC

aikah wrote: post #77

rasz_pl wrote: post #15

Daphne Koller must be happy today, this is a huge validation for Coursera business model.

> Daphne Koller must be happy today, this is a huge validation for Coursera business model. makes no sense. It would be like saying Facebook success validates Twitter business model, just because they are both social networks. Lynda doesn't issue certificates if you complete their courses. And AFAIK they don't work directly with universities or colleges. Coursera content is academic, while Lynda.com is practical and…