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LinkedIn, a Professional Networking Forum, had already seen the profits for Q1 2012 jump by more than 100% on a steep revenue growth from its hiring solutions and premium subscriptions products, when the company announced the acquisition of a document-sharing site SlideShare. A deal brokered over an amount of US$ 118.75 million deal subsequently saw LinkedIn’s stock price rise more than 7% to $117.50 per share in after-market of the buy-out.

Even before the acquisition, LinkedIn did allows members to post links to personal portfolios and websites, but members could not directly upload videos, multimedia slides or other forms of video/visual content the way these do on other social forums. Post the acquisition however, SlideShare’s advanced content-sharing capability renders LinkedIn no less capable.

Founded in 2006, SlideShare allows its users to upload and share documents, presentations and videos. According to company statistics, it had nearly 29 million unique visitors in March 2012, and has 9 million presentations embedded across 1.4 million unique domains. On the other hand, LinkedIn claims 161 million members.

Sharing his comment on the acquisition, LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner explained “Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity. We’re very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.” With this acquisition, Mr. Weiner is acknowledging the growing importance of content to B2B marketing and provisioning for its continued growth. SlideShare has become a hub for companies to host and promote their content.

The acquisition is a sign of the growing trend of visual communication in today’s business environment, whereby companies prefer to work more and more in a virtual space. The workforce of today is increasingly time-pressed to absorb as much information as possible as quickly as possible hence, justifying the need to share content with one’s professional circle. SlideShare’s merger with LinkedIn suits the case.

In the meantime, SlideShare users will continue experiencing the service as always. SlideShare has done a tremendous job of creating a dynamic platform for document sharing that millions of professionals have come to rely on everyday; and it will remain that way.

A partnership with LinkedIn will bring this content to a majority of the LinkedIn users worldwide, broadening Slideshare’s reach and deepening LinkedIn’s focus on content. It is unclear yet how the two services will be combining functionalities. It can be bet on, most certainly, that content will take a more central role in positioning/marketing one’s LinkedIn profile than what is currently available.

 

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