Prosus N.V., a global consumer internet group, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stack Overflow, a knowledge-sharing platform for the global community of developers and technologists, for approximately US$1.8 billion.
Stack Overflow has built a global company and engaged developer and technologist community over the last 13 years, now serving more than 100 million people across the world every month. Founded in 2008 as an open community-based question and answer website for the developer community, the company has expanded to include Stack Overflow for Teams, a knowledge management and collaboration solution.
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.”
Illg continued, “With enduring skills shortages and ever-evolving needs within technology organizations, technology training has emerged as the largest and fastest growing segment of corporate learning and development. 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.”
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.”
The transaction is expected to close by Q3 of 2021 and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
Arya has been a part of the Content & Research Team at Hrnxt.com. She is a keen observer of economic developments, emerging businesses, people in business and keeps a tab on latest happenings in the business environment.