Rumour: News Corp to buy LinkedIn
[Get the RSS feed or see the right for the newsletter. Digg this story. Got a story? Get in touch] — An unconfirmed rumour has reached me via a reliable source that LinkedIn is in talks with media giant News Corporation over a possible buyout in January 2008.
Context & Ripple Effects
LinkedIn enters this rumour at a deliberately self-determined moment: in October 2007 CEO Dan Nye committed to opening LinkedIn's own platform within 9 to 12 months, explicitly copying the underpinnings of Facebook's developer push while rejecting what he called frivolous 'food fight' apps, and on October 31 LinkedIn joined Google's OpenSocial as a partner. A single-sourced, unconfirmed report that News Corporation might buy LinkedIn as early as January 2008 lands squarely on top of that strategy.
Because the claim rests on one unnamed source with no confirmation from either company, it belongs in the same bucket as any pre-deal leak: plausible enough to move perceptions of LinkedIn's independence, but unverified — a textbook case for second-source discipline before treating a January 2008 close as anything more than talk.
First-order effects
- If the reported January 2008 talks produced a deal, LinkedIn's independently scheduled platform opening — the API roadmap Nye laid out in October 2007 — would pass under News Corporation's control before it even launched.
- Until confirmed or denied, LinkedIn must negotiate its developer and OpenSocial commitments while carrying a buyout cloud that its partners did not price in when it joined OpenSocial on October 31.
Second-order effects
- A News Corp acquisition would force every player in business networking to reposition: rivals would face a professionally-focused network backed by a global media conglomerate rather than a standalone firm still building its platform.
- Other potential acquirers and platform partners would have to decide quickly whether LinkedIn is a partner in the OpenSocial ecosystem or a competitor's asset, changing the calculus for anyone counting on LinkedIn's upcoming API.
Third-order effects
- The pattern this rumour points toward is consolidation of standalone social networks into large media and internet companies, with professional networks treated as strategic assets rather than independent platforms.
- If big-company buyouts become the default exit for social networks, founders and investors will increasingly build against acquisition rather than independence — shaping how open or closed the next generation of platforms turns out.
The trend: Standalone social networks are shifting from independent platform-building to acquisition targets for large media and internet companies, with each confirmed deal resetting the field for the rest.