Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Prosus, one of the world’s largest technology investors, has announced it is to acquire knowledge sharing website and knowledge management platform Stack Overflow.
The deal, which is worth $1.8bn, will see Prosus acquire one of the world’s top 50 most popular websites, having been founded in 2008 as a question-and-answer website for developers. Its community of developers and technologists now numbers more than 100 million a month, with 52 million questions and answers present on the platform.
Larry Illg, CEO of EdTech at Prosus, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Stack Overflow to the Prosus family as we increasingly focus on the future of workplace learning. Learning of any kind typically begins with a question and their platform is critically important for global developers when they have questions about their work. There is an opportunity to connect more deeply with their community through our other education platforms to further fulfill their learning needs.”
Knowledge Management Platform
Stack Overflow also features a knowledge management and collaboration solution known as Stack Overflow for Teams, which features a structured and searchable knowledge based and is used by companies ranging from Siemens to Bloomberg to Microsoft.
“With enduring skills shortages and ever-evolving needs within technology organisations, technology training has emerged as the largest and fastest growing segment of corporate learning and development,” said Larry Illg. “As an operator of businesses across 90+ countries, we understand the needs of technologists and developers, particularly in high-growth markets. In addition to further scaling its community in the markets we know well, we want to help Stack Overflow Teams to expand within enterprises to address an underserved opportunity to transform their technology learning and collaboration.”
The deal is expected to complete by Q3 of 2021, subject to the usual regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
Stack Overflow’s CEO, Prashanth Chandrasekar, said: “We are excited to be joining the Prosus family, which catapults us into a new phase of growth and allows us to expand and accelerate Stack Overflow’s impact around the world. Prosus’s expertise growing and nurturing communities, especially in a global context, will make our public platform even more invaluable in helping developers and technologists learn and grow. Given Prosus’s focus on the future of the workplace, their partnership will allow our market leading SaaS collaboration product, Stack Overflow for Teams, to reach thousands more global enterprises, allowing them to accelerate product innovation and increase productivity by unlocking institutional knowledge.”
