262亿美元收购领英后 微软与零工经济先驱Upwork合作日前,微软宣布和全球最大的自由职业者工作平台Upwork合作开发新工具,帮助企业雇主管理合作、雇佣的自由职业者。《美国先驱报》称,两家公司最近的合作——帮助企业在合同期内暂时访问企业微软Office应用程序的工具——将是全面收购的第一步。
Upwork首席执行官斯蒂芬·卡斯瑞尔
新软件助力公司管理自由职业者
这款新软件旨在帮助公司在有限的时间内,让需要使用某些微软办公相关工具(比如workplace chat app)的合作自由职业者更容易地得到帮助。
当项目结束时,新软件会自动切断自由职业者对合作雇主微软相关产品(包括任何相关数据)的访问。以往,雇主公司必须手动阻止自由职业者进入,这可是一个耗时的麻烦。
Upwork首席执行官斯蒂芬·卡斯瑞尔希望,这款名为Microsoft 365自由职业者工具包的新免费产品最终将吸引更多雇主客户使用包括自由职业者筛选服务在内的Upwork付费产品。
由于微软拥有庞大的企业客户名单,Upwork与微软合作开发了这些新工具,从而给了Upwork一个从企业客户那里获得更多业务的机会。卡斯里尔介绍,许多自由职业者使用Upwork平台与雇主公司联系,从事涉及微软技术的项目,比如开发人员使用微软的Sharepoint软件构建企业内部网。他说,有了这些新工具,公司可以更容易地找到专门从事微软相关项目的自由职业者,并能更快地聘用他们。
有消息称微软计划将Upwork纳入公司
此外,据《美国先驱报》(USA Herald)报道,有消息称,微软已经相中Upwork,并计划很快将其纳入公司大家庭。
虽然职业社交平台领英在大公司、全职员工和人力资源部门中很受欢迎,但Upwork是一个非常不同的平台。2013年成立以来,Upwork旨在将个体自由职业者与寻求短期项目员工的企业和个人联系起来。目前,该平台已经拥有超过1200万的注册用户。
《美国先驱报》称,两家公司最近的合作——帮助企业在合同期内暂时访问企业微软Office应用程序的工具——将是全面收购的第一步。
今年6月,微软宣布以262亿美元收购领英,这笔微软史上最大收购也意味着微软迈出了踏入网络社交领域的一大步。美国媒体分析,微软对社交平台企业领域的控制力越来越强,这无疑给人一种微软将采取行动的感觉。和领英相比,Upwork有更明显的直接收入流:通常根据项目价值向雇主企业收取20%的费用、向自由职业者方收取10%。除此之外,如果雇主企业想要更多的自由职业者使用微软软件和Outlook,那么这将是一个直接吸引他们的好机会。
对此传言,Upwork首席执行官卡斯瑞尔没有明确回应。但他表示,Upwork选择与微软进行合作,且不打算与谷歌或Slack等微软竞争对手达成类似交易。
以下为英文报道:
Microsoft is reportedly eyeing up freelance hub Upwork
Microsoft and enterprise software company Upwork have partnered on new tools to help companies manage freelance workers.
The new software is intended to help companies more easily give temporary workers who need to access certain Microsoft Office-related tools,like the Teams workplace chat app,for limited amounts of time.
When projects end, the new software automatically cuts freelancers’ access to Microsoft-related products including any associated data.Typically,companies must manually block freelancers from access,which can be a time-consuming hassle.
Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel hopes that the new free product,called Microsoft 365 Freelance Toolkit,will eventually attract more customers to Upwork’s paid products that include freelance screening services.
Upwork teamed with Microsoft on the new tools because of Microsoft’s huge list of corporate customers,thereby giving Upwork an opportunity to get more business from them. Kasriel said that many freelancers who use Upwork to connect with companies work on projects that involve Microsoft technology, like a developer who builds corporate intranets using Microsoft’s Sharepoint software.
With the new tools, companies can more easily search for freelancers who specialize in Microsoft-related projects and hire them more quickly, he said.
According to the USA Herald, sources indicate that Microsoft is sniffing around Upwork, and has plans to make it part of the company’s family soon.
While LinkedIn is popular among large companies,full-time employees and HR departments looking to tempt said full-time employees elsewhere,Upwork is a very different beast. A hub for freelancers, formed in 2013 with the merging of oDesk and Elance (sadly the didn’t go for “Elanceodesk”), the site aims to connect self-employed types with businesses and individuals looking to staff short-term projects. It has more than 12 million registered users.
USA Herald is incredibly vague about the nature of its sources, not even revealing which side of the potential transaction they sit on. The report states that a recent collaboration between the two companies - tools to help businesses provide temporary access to Enterprise Microsoft Office apps for the duration of a contract - was the first step on the road to a full acquisition.
Upwork has a more obvious direct revenue stream with a consistent flow of transactions between employers and temporary employees and charges the former between ten and 20 per cent of the value of a given project.
Kasriel said that Upwork doesn’t plan similar deals with Microsoft competitors like Google’s G Suite workplace software or Slack.“Right now that is not the plan,”Kasriel said.
原文来源:262亿美元收购领英后 微软与零工经济先驱Upwork合作
Cornerstone签署协议收购Grovo加速自身内容发展,收购将于2018年第四季度完成
据Cornerstone官网消息, 2018年11月7日,基于云学习和人力资本管理软件的全球领导者Cornerstone OnDemand(纳斯达克股票代码:CSOD)宣布,公司签署了收购Grovo Learning的最终协议,并以2400万美元的全现金交易收购了这一微学习内容的领先供应商,但需进行一定的结算调整。此次Cornerstone收购Grovo计划将在2018年第四季度完成。
Grovo成立于2010年,已经制作了超过2500个主题的微型学习课程。Grovo拥有超过300家客户,包括Gap Inc.、Hulu、雪佛龙(Chevron)和富国银行(Wells Fargo),在纽约和旧金山设有办事处。据悉,grovo 在去年7月底完成了1130万美元D轮融资,总融资额达7330万美元。
“收购Grovo帮助我们实现了Cornerstone在全球范围内改善教育机会的愿景。”作为学习领域的领导者,我们知道Grovo拥有世界上最具创新性的培训内容。“与我们最先进的学习套件和我们随时提供的内容相结合,与Grovo的结合奠定了Cornerstone。”
与此同时,基石投资还宣布将在任何时候扩大其内容订阅服务。Content Anytime是一种内容订阅服务,它使组织能够为员工提供新鲜、现代的内容,使他们能够控制自己的职业发展。订阅支持所有类型的现代学习模式,从微学习(更短、更容易消费的课程)到宏观学习(更深入地掌握一门学科或技能),再到间隔学习(课程分为多个部分,中间有提问的时间间隔)。Cornerstone结合了近20年的学习和开发经验,结合了最受欢迎的、用户驱动的内容推荐(使用数据和Cornerstone庞大社区的反馈),不断添加和更新课程内容。
以下为原文:
Cornerstone Accelerates Momentum in Content with Acquisition of Grovo
Deal Strengthens Cornerstone’s Content Anytime Offerings with the Leader in Modern Micro-Learning Training Content
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — November 7, 2018 – Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ:CSOD), a global leader in cloud-based learning and human capital management software, today announced that the Company signed a definitive agreement to acquire Grovo Learning, Inc., the leading provider of micro-learning content for $24 million in an all-cash deal, subject to certain closing adjustments. The acquisition of Grovo is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Founded in 2010, Grovo has produced over 2,500 micro-learning courses across a range of topics. Grovo has over 300 clients, including Gap Inc., Hulu, Chevron and Wells Fargo, with offices in New York City and San Francisco.
“The acquisition of Grovo helps fulfill the vision we had on day one for Cornerstone to improve access to education on a global basis. As leaders in learning, we know that Grovo has some of the most innovative training content in the world,” said Adam Miller, Cornerstone’s founder and CEO. “United with our state-of-the-art Learning suite and our Content Anytime subscription offerings, the combination with Grovo places Cornerstone in a league of its own.”
In conjunction with this acquisition, Cornerstone also announced an expansion of its Content Anytime subscription offerings. Content Anytime is a content subscription service that enables organizations to provide their employees with fresh, modern content that puts them in control of their own career development. The subscriptions support all types of modern learning formats, from micro-learning (shorter, easily consumable courses) to macro-learning (deeper mastery of a subject or skill) to spaced-learning (courses broken into sections, with timed intervals for questioning in between). Cornerstone continually adds and refreshes course content by combining insights from nearly 20 years of learning and development expertise and the most in-demand, user-driven content recommendations informed by usage data and feedback from Cornerstone’s massive community.
Starting today, Cornerstone will offer a range of subscriptions beyond its popular Content Anytime Essentials offering, including thematic subscriptions for compliance and digital transformation, as well as regional subscriptions for France, Germany and Spain. Cornerstone expects to incorporate Grovo content across its Content Anytime subscription service.
Cornerstone will discuss the acquisition of Grovo on its third quarter 2018 earnings conference call scheduled for today.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions and strategies of Cornerstone relating to its acquisition of Grovo. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product offerings; expected benefits to Cornerstone and its customers; expected financial impact of the acquisition on Cornerstone; and plans regarding the integration of Grovo’s products with Cornerstone’s. These statements reflect the current beliefs of Cornerstone and are based on current information available to Cornerstone as of the date hereof, and Cornerstone does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. The ability of Cornerstone to achieve these business objectives involves many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the failure to achieve expected synergies and efficiencies of operations between Cornerstone and Grovo; the ability of Cornerstone and Grovo to successfully integrate their respective market opportunities, technology, products, personnel and operations; the failure to timely develop and achieve market acceptance of combined products and services; the potential impact on the business of Grovo as a result of the acquisition; the loss of any Grovo customers; the ability to coordinate strategy and resources between Cornerstone and Grovo; the ability of Cornerstone and Grovo to retain and motivate key employees of Grovo; general economic conditions; as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Cornerstone’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2018 for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at csod.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
About Grovo
Grovo is the world’s leading Microlearning solution, providing modern learning that employees actually like. Grovo helps L&D teams engage employees and drive their business forward by delivering a constantly evolving library of customizable Microlearning lessons through an easy-to-use platform. Hundreds of companies of all sizes, from PepsiCo and Gap to Bitly and Magellan Health, trust Grovo to onboard employees faster, deepen their leadership bench, enable customer-facing teams, re-envision compliance programs and build inclusive, mission-driven cultures. Learn more at grovo.com.
原文来源:Cornerstone Accelerates Momentum in Content with Acquisition of Grovo
分析人士对价值80亿美元的SAP-Qualtrics收购交易进行了评估,认为这不会改变游戏规则
文/Ron Miller
今天,SAP首席执行官Bill McDermott因公司周末价值80亿美元的Qualtrics收购案而备受关注。McDermott相信Qualtrics提供的数据可以弥补公司运营数据和客户之间的差距,无论客户在哪里。
Qualtrics的理念是,要理解客户的情绪。McDermott认为,这是该公司客户管理难题的关键部分,它不仅可以推动该公司成为客户体验领域的重要参与者,还可以推动公司的基础云业务。这是因为它提供了一种来自客户的持续反馈的方式,而这种方式很难以其他方式确定。
在这种背景下,他认为这笔交易具有变革性。“通过将这些经验数据与操作相结合,我们可以通过Qualtrics和SAP将其结合起来,这是世界上从未有过的,我从根本上相信它将改变我们今天所知道的这个世界。”
其他密切关注该行业的人则不这么认为。虽然他们喜欢这笔交易,并看到了合并这些数据的潜力,但这可能不是麦克德莫特在花了80亿美元后所希望的游戏规则改变者。
保罗•格林伯格(Paul Greenberg)是56家集团的董事总经理,著有影响深远的CRM书籍《光速下的CRM》(CRM at The Light of Light)。他表示,对该公司来说,这无疑是一笔巨大的收购,但他表示,要挑战市场领导者,需要的不仅仅是一两次收购。格林伯格表示:“这将是一次有益的收购,因为SAP希望继续将公司转向面向客户的方向,但无论如何,这都不是一次决定性的收购。”
客户体验是一个宽泛的术语,它涉及到从细粒度层次上了解客户,预测他们想要什么,了解他们是谁,他们买了什么,以及他们正在寻找什么。这些问题比你想象的要难解决,特别是因为它们涉及到从不同供应商的系统收集数据,这些供应商处理不同的问题。
Adobe和Salesforce等公司已将这作为其主要业务重点。SAP的核心是ERP公司,通过管理财务、采购和人力资源等关键的内部运营系统来收集数据。
Real Story Group创始人兼首席分析师托尼•伯恩(Tony Byrne)表示,他喜欢Qualtrics对SAP的影响,但他不确定它是否像McDermott建议的那样重要。Qualtrics可以让你做一些营销人员肯定想要的更复杂的调查,但它的双重好处是——不像SurveyMonkey和其他公司——Qualtrics在数字化工作场所方面有经验,可以补充SAP的一些人力资源工具。但他补充说,这并不是CEM的核心部分,他的公司的研究发现SAP仍然存在漏洞,尤其是在营销工具和技术方面(MarTech)。
CRM Essentials创始人布伦特•利里(Brent Leary)同意SAP收购了一家不错的公司,尤其是在今年早些时候以24亿美元收购了CallidusCloud之后,但要赶上Salesforce和Adobe还有很长的路要走。Qualtrics的确提供了一个更广泛的客户视角,因为来自后台和前台系统的运营数据。Callidus的收购有助于将洞察力转化为某些以bb为中心的客户体验。但我认为,在B2C体验创建工具方面,可能还需要更多的东西,Adobe和Salesforce等公司正专注于营销/体验云。
McDermott认为,这是否会真正改变游戏规则还有待观察,但我们采访的行业专家认为,这将更多地是一项渐进式举措,有助于推进公司的客户体验计划。如果他们是对的,McDermott可能还没有完成购物。
以上为AI翻译,内容仅供参考。
原文链接: Analysts weighing in on $8B SAP-Qualtrics deal don’t see a game changer
相关阅读:SAP在调查软件公司Qualtrics上市之前,以80亿美元将其收购
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2018年11月13日
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SAP在调查软件公司Qualtrics上市之前,以80亿美元将其收购
文/Catherine Shu
企业软件巨头SAP今天宣布,已经同意以80亿美元的现金收购Qualtrics,在这家调查研究软件公司上市之前。该交易预计将于2019年上半年完成。Qualtrics 2016年上一轮风险投资基金以25亿美元的估值筹集了1.8亿美元。
在甲骨文于2016年以93亿美元收购Netsuite后,这是有史以来第二大收购SaaS公司。
在电话会议中,SAP首席执行官比尔麦克德莫特说,Qualtrics的IPO已经超额认购,两家公司几个月前就开始讨论了。SAP声称其软件涉及全球77%的交易收入,而Qualtrics的产品包括调查软件,使其9,000名企业用户能够衡量客户情绪和员工敬业度等因素。
McDermott比较了将SAP的运营数据与Qualtrics的客户和用户数据相结合与Facebook收购Instagram的潜在影响。“那些将90年代的科技带入21世纪的传统玩家们刚刚遭受重创。我们已经让市场上的现有参与者绝迹。(SAP的竞争对手包括甲骨文、Salesforce.com、微软和IBM。)
SAP的全球总部位于德国瓦尔多夫,表示已获得70亿欧元(约合79.3亿美元)的融资,用于支付与收购相关的成本和购买价格,其中包括未结算的员工奖金和现金资产负债表。 。
2002年共同创立Qualtrics的Ryan Smith将继续担任首席执行官。收购完成后,该公司将成为SAP云业务集团的一部分,但保留其位于普罗沃,犹他州和西雅图的双重总部,以及自己的品牌和人员。
据Crunchbase称,该公司从投资者(包括Accel,Sequoia和Insight Ventures)筹集了4亿美元的风险投资资金。该公司计划首次以18至21美元的价格出售2050万股股票,这可能有可能达到约4.95亿美元。根据CrunchBase的Alex Wilhelm的说法,这将使其估值在39亿至45亿美元之间。
今年,Qualtrics的收入从9710万$增长了8.5%,在第二季度的1.054亿$的第三季度,根据其IPO申请。它报告第三季度GAAP净收入为490万美元。这比上一季度报告的975,000美元增加,以及去年同期的净利润为470万美元。在2018年的前九个月,Qualtrics的经营现金流增长至5250万美元,而2017年同期则为3610万美元。
在今天的公告中,Qualtrics表示,预计其2018年全年收入将超过4亿美元,预计远期增长率将超过40%,不包括其收购SAP的潜在协同效应。
Qualtrics的主要竞争对手包括9月上市的 SurveyMonkey 。
以上为AI翻译,内容仅供参考。
原文链接: SAP agrees to buy Qualtrics for $8B in cash, just before the survey software company’s IPO
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2018年11月12日
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英国小众专才招聘网站Adzuna收购了Work In Startups
文/Steve O'Hear
凭借新资本(最近的800万英镑C轮融资)以及现在每月100万英镑的收入,工作元搜索引擎Adzuna已经收购了英国科技创业公司的工作委员会Work In Startups。
交易条款尚未披露。然而,Adzuna将接管Work In Startups网站的运营,但继续将其作为独立品牌和社区运营。值得注意的是,该网站将保持免费发布职位。
Work in Startups于2011年由Diana Ilinca和Alex Borbely创立,旨在为创业公司创造一种更轻松地找到技术和创意人才的方式,而无需通过招聘人员或使用更通用的工作网站。据说它已经成为过去几年英国创业公司招聘的重要工具,据我所知,Adzuna本身已经使用过它。
“随着我们不断发展并越来越多地了解市场,我们意识到'通才'搜索并不总是所有求职者/雇主的最佳解决方案,有时一个专注的小众网站可以提供更加个性化的体验和建立一个更强大的社区”,Adzuna联合创始人Andrew Hunter告诉我。
“技术创业公司的工作和公司是最先进的,早期采用者,并且有非常特殊的需求......而这确实是一个非常强大但不发达的市场领先的社区资产,拥有像Adzuna这样的免费增值模式。因此,这是一种很好的方式,让我们更好地学习如何利用我们擅长的技术、流量获取、数据等,并将其应用于为像这样的(创业)网站及其用户创造更多价值。”
与此相关的是,Adzuna的数据显示,英国目前有110万个开放式工作岗位,其中90,000个(超过8%)属于技术领域。
“就个人而言,我希望让英国创业公司更容易雇用优秀的人才,”亨特继续说道。“我一直在经历'斗争',当你的公司刚刚开始时,很难吸引最优秀的人才(更不用说与大银行和成熟的科技公司竞争人才了!)。我们希望通过接受这个社区并将其提升到新的高度来改变这种状况。”
话虽如此,Adzuna联合创始人表示短期内不会进行其它收购,“我们将来会做其他类似的收购吗?就目前来说,这只是一次但可能是正确的资产。”
以上为AI翻译,内容仅供参考。
原文链接: Adzuna acquires job board Work In Startups