LinkedIn has acquired job-search startup Bright.com for $120 million to help match job hunters with employers more effectively.
Bright.com's technology uses a scoring mechanism, which quickly shows employers and job seekers how well they match. LinkedIn will be able to use Bright's technology to update its applicant suggestions for employers seeking to hire and also make the jobs suggested for prospective applicants more relevant to its users.
LinkedIn may also be able to take advantage of Bright's matching feature called the "Bright Score," which takes several variables into account and saves precious time for employers.
"We decided to join LinkedIn because of what we lacked - the ability to apply this technology across the entire economy. We share LinkedIn's passion for connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale. And we agree that the old models for online recruiting are hopelessly broken," said Eduardo Vivas, the founder of Bright. "Joining an organization with the talent and resources of LinkedIn will only serve to further ignite our passion for solving this problem. We may become less visible than we were before, but it's now more likely than ever that you'll feel the impact of our work."
The latest acquisition of $120 million is made up of 73 percent stock and 27 percent cash, which makes it LinkedIn's largest acquisition ever. The deal is estimated to close by the end of Q1 2014. Several members of Bright.com's team, including employees in engineering and product roles, will join LinkedIn as part of the acquisition. However, it is not known if Steve Goodman, CEO of Bright, will join LinkedIn.
Bright claims that there are over 2.5 million jobs indexed on its website, which are being searched by more than 7 million people each month. Unlike some other job search websites, job seekers do not have to register on Bright.com to search for jobs. However, they are required to create a profile to gain access to the site's key features pertaining to matching. Following the acquisition, users will be able to access Bright's existing data through Feb. 28 this year.
LinkedIn already uses information in a person's profiles to suggest how well they suit a specific job. It also provides tools to suggest jobs that may be of interest to particular users.
LinkedIn announced the acquisition of Bright on Thursday, Feb. 6, alongside its Q4 2013 financial results, which showed increase in revenue when compared to the previous year. However, the company's weaker-than-expected revenue outlook for 2014 made the share price drop by as much as 15 percent in the after-hours trading following the announcement. On Friday, shares of the social network for professionals further slipped 6.20 percent to close down at $209.59 on the NYSE.
