LinkedIn’s publishing ambitions take shape

LinkedIn last night announced it had acquired Pulse, a creator of news reader and mobile content applications that was founded in 2010.In that short space of time Pulse has amassed some 30 million registered users across iOS and Android-based news reader apps in more than 190 countries. The app is also available in nine languages and approximately 40% of users are outside the United States.The US$90 million move is significant for LinkedIn on several fronts. Content aggregation and sharing has now become a clear strategy to attract eyeballs and, in turn, advertiser interest.The listed group has moved aggressively on the content space, adding a number of features like LinkedIn Today and LinkedIn Influencer, written by prominent business leaders like Arianna Huffington, Richard Branson and Meg Whitman.Deep Nishar, SVP of Products and User Experience and LinkedIn said its vision for content was to be the “definitive professional publishing platform.”“Pulse is a perfect complement to this vision,” he said.