February 13, 2014

LinkedIn purchases job search startup Bright.com

Professional networking website LinkedIn recently announced its intentions to acquire job search startup Bright.com for $120 million. The deal, which consists of 70 percent stock and 30 percent cash, is expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter this year. 

Bright.com has been a popular option for many job seekers looking for an alternative to larger job search engines like Monster and CareerBuilder. The startup uses a combination of algorithms and data science to match candidates with the right positions. 

"What LinkedIn does best is connect talent with opportunity at massive scale," said Deep Nishar, LinkedIn's Senior Vice President of Products and User Experience, in a press release. "By leveraging Bright's data-driven matching technology, machine-learning algorithms and domain expertise, we can accelerate our efforts and build out the Economic Graph."

In a post on LinkedIn's blog, Parker Barrile, the company's Vice President of Product expanded further about the reasons behind this technology acquisition. He said as the firm adds more job listings over the next few years, it will benefit greatly from Bright's matching technology and ensure that recommendations are relevant to prospects and employers. 

Following the conclusion of the acquisition, members of Bright's Engineering and Product teams will join LinkedIn. Neither company has announced whether or not Bright's founders will be joining LinkedIn as well. As result of the merger, Bright will be putting an end to its search function. Users will be able to use the site until February 28, at which point the information will only be found on LinkedIn.