LinkedIn to acquire training website Lynda.com for $1.5bn

Business networking group LinkedIn Corporation has agreed the takeover of professional training website Lynda.com for $1.5bn.

The transaction will be a combination of roughly 52% cash and 48% shares, with the deal expected to close during the second quarter of the year.

Jeff Weiner, chief executive officer of LinkedIn, wants Lynda to help the company build its 'Economic Graph', a massive network connecting "people, jobs, skills and knowledge".

He said Lynda.com’s huge library of video content, when integrated with the hundreds of millions of members and millions of jobs on LinkedIn, "can change the way in which people connect to opportunity".

“The mission of LinkedIn and the mission of lynda.com are highly aligned [...] Both companies seek to help professionals be better at what they do.”