LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) Acquires PointDrive To Enhance Its Social Sales Platform

LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) has revealed that it acquired PointDrive on July 26 as part of its strategy to boost sales on its platform.

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LinkedIn did not reveal details about the purchase but sources claim that PointDrive did not have venture capital funding. The acquired firm is a Chicago-based firm that developed an application that lets salespeople package their sales content for potential and existing customers. LinkedIn plans to integrate its Sales Solution line with the app to boost performance and generate more value.

David Thacker, Vice President of LinkedIn pointed out that the firm’s idea is that combining the PointDrive content-sharing application with LinkedIn’s product and network will create stronger customer relationships.

PointDrive plans to continue supporting its already existing customers but it will not be taking up new clients. Bill Burnett, founder and CEO of PointDrive stated that his company’s teams in the product and development departments will be absorbed by LinkedIn and they will be relocated to LinkedIn’s offices in San Francisco. LinkedIn has been on a mission to improve its services with new features such as new mobile features, Integration with services from salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) and Gmail plug-ins.

LinkedIn is also in talks with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) over a possible acquisition. Microsoft revealed its plans to acquire LinkedIn in June and the current value of the deal is $26 billion. The software and tech giant’s plan is to integrate its CRM and Dynamics ERP products with algorithms and data from LinkedIn. Microsoft revealed that the deal is currently pending regulatory approval and it is expected to close before the end of the year.

Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn is quite a unique situation since the firm to be acquired is also in the process of acquiring another firm. However, this is not the first time that Microsoft has made such an acquisition. Skype was in the middle of buying out GroupMe when it was acquired by Microsoft in 2011.

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