Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 18, 2026

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is an American global massive open online course provider. It provides video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. All the courses on LinkedIn fall into four categories: Business, Creative, Technology, and Certifications.

Last revised
May 18, 2026
Read time
≈ 4 min
Length
842 w
Citations
21
Source
Wikipedia ↗
LinkedIn Learning
FormerlyLynda.com (1995-2017)
Company type
Subsidiary
IndustryE-learning
Founded1995 (1995)
Founders
Headquarters
Carpinteria Edit this on Wikidata
Services
ParentLinkedIn (2015-present)
Websitelinkedin.com/learning
Footnotes / references
1

LinkedIn Learning is an American global massive open online course provider. It provides video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. All the courses on LinkedIn fall into four categories: Business, Creative, Technology, and Certifications.

It was founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman as Lynda.com before being acquired by LinkedIn in 2015 and becoming LinkedIn Learning.2 Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in December 2016.3

History

LinkedIn Learning was founded as Lynda.com in 1995 in Ojai, California, initially serving as an online resource to support the books and classes of Lynda Weinman, a special effects animator and multimedia professor who founded a digital arts school with her husband, artist Bruce Heavin.4

The company expanded into online education in 2002, offering digital courses through its platform.5 By 2004, its catalog had grown to approximately 100 courses, and in 2008 it broadened its content offerings to include documentary-style features on creative professionals, artists, and entrepreneurs.6

Lynda.com pursued both strategic acquisitions and external investment to support its growth. In February 2013, the company acquired video2brain, an Austrian-based provider of online classes in web design and programming, available in German, French, Spanish, and English.7 The following year, it acquired Compilr, a Canadian startup offering an online coding editor and sandbox environment.8

During this period, Lynda.com also secured its first major outside funding. In 2013, it raised $103 million (~$136 million in 2024) in growth equity from Accel Partners, Spectrum Equity, and Meritech Capital Partners.9 On January 14, 2015, the company raised an additional $186 million (~$240 million in 2024) in financing led by TPG Capital.10

LinkedIn announced its acquistion of Lynda.com in April 2015, completing the $1.5 billion transaction in May of that year.11 Following the acquisition, the platform continued to expand distribution, including an Apple TV application in 2016.12

Microsoft announced that it would acquire Lynda.com's parent company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion (~$33.5 billion in 2024), which was completed in December 2016.131415 In October 2017, Lynda.com was merged and renamed LinkedIn Learning.16 In 2019, the site announced that users accessing LinkedIn Learning through their public library would be required to create a LinkedIn profile in order to use the service; the decision faced criticism from librarians and the American Library Association.171819 As of March 2021, libraries started migrating to LinkedIn Learning without requiring patrons to create a LinkedIn profile.20

The original Lynda.com website was discontinued on June 2, 2021, and permanently redirects to LinkedIn Learning.21

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "Lynda.com Lands $103 Million in Biggest Education Financing". Bloomberg. 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
  2. Larson, Selena (2013-12-03). "Lynda.com Founder: I Was Educating Online Before Online Education Was Cool". ReadWrite. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  3. "LinkedIn CEO: Here's Why I Sold the Company to Microsoft". Time.
  4. Roush, Wade (2013-03-28). "Knowledge When You Need It: Lynda.com and the Rise of Online Education". Xconomy. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
  5. Singel, Ryan (2011-06-17). "A Paywall That Pays Off: How Lynda.com Broke All the Rules and Won". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  6. Meyer, Stephen J. (2015-05-12). "LinkedIn's Blockbuster Deal With Lynda.com: What It Means To The Online Learning Industry". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  7. Heussner, Ki Mae (2013-02-13). "Flush with cash, lynda.com buys European online learning site video2brain". Gigaom. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  8. Lunden, Ingrid (2014-04-07). "E-Learning Platform Buys Compilr To Add In-Browser Coding Tools, Price Around $20M". TechCrunch.
  9. Empson, Rip (2013-01-15). "After 17 Years, Education Platform Lynda.com Raises Its First Round of Funding, $103M From Accel & Spectrum". TechCrunch.
  10. Singer, Natasha (2015-01-14). "Investors Put $186 Million Into Lynda.com, an Online Tutorial Service". Bits Blog. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  11. Roslansky, Ryan (2015-04-09). "Welcome to the LinkedIn Family, lynda.com". blog.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  12. Yeung, Ken (2016-04-21). "LinkedIn makes all Lynda.com courses available on Apple TV". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  13. "Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn | News Center" (Press release). Microsoft. June 13, 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-13. Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn Corporation on Monday announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for $16 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LinkedIn's net cash.
  14. Greene, Jay (2016-06-14). "Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  15. Weiner, Jeff (2016-12-08). "LinkedIn + Microsoft: Our Next Play Begins". LinkedIn.
  16. "Upgrading from Lynda.com to LinkedIn Learning". Lynda.com - from LinkedIn. 2017-10-20. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  17. Foley, Mary Jo (August 22, 2019). "Microsoft is moving Lynda.com users to LinkedIn Learning and not everyone's happy about it". ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
  18. Cimpanu, Catalin (July 23, 2019). "American Library Association blasts LinkedIn for intrusive ToS changes". ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  19. Elias, Jennifer (28 August 2019). "Why librarians are up in arms against LinkedIn". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  20. "LinkedIn Learning for Library – Patron FAQ". Learning Help. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  21. Shah, Dhawal (2021-07-12). "LinkedIn Sunsets Lynda.com and Fully Transitions to LinkedIn Learning". The Report by Class Central. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
External links