Edtech Companies Hail New Rival LinkedIn As Industry Catalyst - Bernadette Tansey, Xconomy

LinkedIn’s $1.5 billion purchase of Lynda.com, a 20-year-old company offering courses ranging from Web design to data analysis, puts it in the pole position to take over a sizeable share of the market for online education and professional training, Stifel analysts wrote after LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) announced the acquisition April 9. Lynda.com’s competitors in the online education industry, however, are thrilled with the LinkedIn deal, saying it affirms that there’s serious money to be made in selling online courses to adult workers who need to keep up with the rapidly changing pace of technology in all industries. http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2015/04/20/edtech-companies-hail-new-rival-linkedin-as-industry-catalyst/