LinkedIn offloads SlideShare to Scribd

LinkedIn has decided to sell its SlideShare business to digital library Scribd for an undisclosed sum.

The Microsoft-owned business social network said Scribd would take over SlideShare’s operations from September 24.

“LinkedIn acquired SlideShare in May 2012 at a time when it was becoming clear that professionals were using LinkedIn for more than making professional connections,” the company said in a brief blog post.

“Over the last eight years, the SlideShare team, product, and community has helped shape the content experience on LinkedIn. 

“We’ve incorporated the ability to upload, share, and discuss documents on LinkedIn.”

Scribd said the acquisition brings “over 40 million presentations to the Scribd reading ecosystem.”

“The addition of presentations from the SlideShare community advances our vision,” Scribd’s CEO and co-founder Trip Adler said.

“It allows us to continue diversifying our offering while driving even more readers to the books, audiobooks, magazines, and other professionally published works in our digital library.” 

Existing SlideShare presentations and activity will remain on SlideShare.net and on the SlideShare mobile app.