QuickWire: Blackboard Is Considering Takeover Proposals

April 19, 2011, 4:47 pm

Blackboard Inc., the course-management software company, announced on Tuesday that it was considering proposals to acquire the company. It did not disclose the source of the proposals. Blackboard’s stock jumped by nearly 30 percent early on Tuesday afternoon to its highest point since 2007.

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http://www.facebook.com/maryalice.muraski Mary-Alice Muraski

Any one taking bets on who wants to acquire BB?
http://www.facebook.com/maryalice.muraski Mary-Alice Muraski

Want to guess who wants to buy BB???
coreydavis_ocglobal

Do I get three chance? Here they are: Microsoft. Google. Facebook.
http://twitter.com/philauter Phil Auter

One of the major textbook companies?
clayette

My guess is Learning Objects? Although I expected Bb to buy them…
pigpen892

My bet is on Sungard.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Shallee-Page/612196292 Shallee Page

Moodle would be a lot less enticing if Blackboard would spend more energy in simplifying interfaces and addressing technical glitches than Mergers & Acquisitions.
rwejd

An interesting development; here’s a link to some speculation:
http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/04/20/blackboard-who-are-the-buyers/

I would discount Pearson, because Pearson recently rolled up eCollege into its enterprise; it doesn’t seem likely that Pearson would take on another LMS, but one never knows.

I wouldn’t count out a large international player, like Bertelsmann. The latter has shown recent renewed interest in playing seriously in the education markets with their recent investment in Flat World Knowledge, a fledgling Open-license textbook publisher. (Bertelsmann owns Random House, and is more than likely planning to roll up Flat World Knowledge into the Random House enterprise, or run it alongside Random House. The latter sold off its textbook division some years ago, but wants back into that market).

A private equity player might see Blackboard as a tempting target, especially is they see an opportunity to squeeze efficiencies out of operations, and then prepare it for a profitable resale.

Last, it’s also possible that a large for-profit like Apollo might be interested. Apollo – along with the other for-profits – have been under enormous pressure these last few years. Thus, Apollo (or some other large player in that sector) may want to push into other education-related areas to diversify its operations and hedge near-term bets by owning a profitable and upcoming property.

In any case, an interesting development to follow.
tracyeg

Desire to Learn?

j/k