Thanks to Stephen Downes for alerting us to this major announcement today.
I like this key statement from Bb's press release: "Assuming the merger closes in May 2009..."
I assume that the Department of Justice will have to approve this merger. We will have to watch to see if/how Bb identifies Desire2Learn as a competitor.
So if anyone is keeping score, the CMS/LMS landscape now includes Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle, and Sakai. There are many other homegrown solutions, small open source options like Bodington, and new products such as TimeCruiser's CourseCruiser. But for now, we are left with the Big 4.
6 comments:
DOJ approval isn't required when a transaction is below $100 mil.
That is not the case. See the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act
Doesn't apply here. They even said in newss releases there are no regulatory hurdles.
I think the key that allows this to escape anti-trust scrutiny is that Angel is privately-held.
The "Big 4?" You must not have read Chasen's remarks. He says there's more competition than ever. You believe him, don't you?
Blackboard's recent acquisition of Angel makes room for another customer service driven LMS provider like 9thPeriod.com.
Dartmouth's Joshua Kim offers an interesting notion that Blackboard itself is in position to be acquired...by Microsoft.
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