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LinkedIn Learning is an American global massive open online course provider. 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.

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, initially serving as an online resource to support 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]

The company expanded into online education in 2002, offering digital courses through its platform.[5] By 2004, its catalog had grown to approximately 100 courses, and in 2008 it broadened its content offerings to include documentary-style features on creative professionals, artists, and entrepreneurs.[6]

Lynda.com pursued both strategic acquisitions and external investment to support its growth. In February 2013, the company acquired video2brain, an Austrian-based provider of online classes in web design and programming, available in German, French, Spanish, and English.[7] The following year, it acquired Compilr, a Canadian startup offering an online coding editor and sandbox environment.[8]

During this period, Lynda.com also secured its first major outside funding. In 2013, it raised $103 million (~$136 million in 2024) in growth equity from Accel Partners, Spectrum Equity, and Meritech Capital Partners.[9] On January 14, 2015, the company raised an additional $186 million (~$240 million in 2024) in financing led by TPG Capital.[10]

LinkedIn announced its acquistion of Lynda.com in April 2015, completing the $1.5 billion transaction in May of that year.[11] Following the acquisition, the platform continued to expand distribution, including an Apple TV application in 2016.[12]

Microsoft announced that it would acquire Lynda.com’s parent company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion (~$33.5 billion in 2024), which was completed in December 2016.[13][14][15] In October 2017, Lynda.com was merged and renamed LinkedIn Learning.[16] 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.[17][18][19] As of March 2021, libraries started migrating to LinkedIn Learning without requiring patrons to create a LinkedIn profile.[20]

The original Lynda.com website was discontinued on June 2, 2021, and permanently redirects to LinkedIn Learning.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ “Lynda.com Lands $103 Million in Biggest Education Financing”. Bloomberg. 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
  2. ^ Larson, Selena (2013-12-03). “Lynda.com Founder: I Was Educating Online Before Online Education Was Cool”. ReadWrite. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  3. ^ “LinkedIn CEO: Here’s Why I Sold the Company to Microsoft”. Time.
  4. ^ Roush, Wade (2013-03-28). “Knowledge When You Need It: Lynda.com and the Rise of Online Education”. Xconomy. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2014-04-07). “E-Learning Platform Buys Compilr To Add In-Browser Coding Tools, Price Around $20M”. TechCrunch.
  9. ^ Empson, Rip (2013-01-15). “After 17 Years, Education Platform Lynda.com Raises Its First Round of Funding, $103M From Accel & Spectrum”. TechCrunch.
  10. ^ Singer, Natasha (2015-01-14). “Investors Put $186 Million Into Lynda.com, an Online Tutorial Service”. Bits Blog. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  11. ^ Roslansky, Ryan (2015-04-09). “Welcome to the LinkedIn Family, lynda.com”. blog.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  12. ^ Yeung, Ken (2016-04-21). “LinkedIn makes all Lynda.com courses available on Apple TV”. VentureBeat. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  13. ^ “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.
  14. ^ Greene, Jay (2016-06-14). “Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion”. Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  15. ^ Weiner, Jeff (2016-12-08). “LinkedIn + Microsoft: Our Next Play Begins”. LinkedIn.
  16. ^ “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.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Cimpanu, Catalin (July 23, 2019). “American Library Association blasts LinkedIn for intrusive ToS changes”. ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  19. ^ Elias, Jennifer (28 August 2019). “Why librarians are up in arms against LinkedIn”. CNBC. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  20. ^ “LinkedIn Learning for Library – Patron FAQ”. Learning Help. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  21. ^ Shah, Dhawal (2021-07-12). “LinkedIn Sunsets Lynda.com and Fully Transitions to LinkedIn Learning”. The Report by Class Central. Retrieved 2022-12-27.