Twitter appears to have made its first deal of the Elon Musk era: buying a job-matching tech startup called Laskie, Axios has learned.
According to Axios, this is the company’s first know acquisition under Musk’s leadership, as well as a transaction that helps fulfill the billionaire’s aspirations to turn Twitter into a “super-app” that offers users multiple functions – including payments.
Founded in 2021, Axios noted, the San Francisco-based startup has focused on recruiting. Founder and CEO Chris Bakke previously sold another startup to the online job board Indeed. Laskie’s website now says the service is no longer available, but it’s LinkedIn page describes it as helping job seekers quickly find good job matches.
Twitter is paying in cash and stock, a source familiar with the matter tells Axios. While the exact price wasn’t disclosed, the source says it was in the “tens of millions”.
iPhone In Canada also reported that Twitter has reportedly struck up a deal to buy out HR tech startup Laskie. The deal marks Twitter’s first publicly known acquisition since Elon Musk took control of the social media giant late last year.
Musk’s Twitter has been focused on cutting spending – to the point that it laid off most of its workforce – and coming up with new ways of making money rather than spending it, iPhone In Canada reported.
Twitter’s motives for buying Laskie are currently unknown. While integrating Laskie’s technology into Twitter could potentially position it as a competitor to Microsoft’s LinkedIn, how Musk plans to go about doing so is anyone’s best guess, iPhone in Canada stated.
TechRadar posted the headline: “Elon Musk’s latest purchase might mean Twitter will be the place to find our next job”.
Twitter has made what is believed to be its first acquisition under its new and controversial leadership, TechRadar reported.
The acquisition of recruitment start-up Laskie appears to represent a step in the platform’s direction to becoming a do-it-all app – a goal set out by current CEO Elon Musk, who will continue to work on product, software, and sysops in his new role as CTO.
California-based Laskie describes itself as the “most powerful platform to hire tech talent” having raised $6 million in seed funding since its launch in 2021.
According to TechRadar, it is unclear what Musk and/or incoming CEO Linda Yaccarino’s goal is precisely, but acquiring a recruitment startup clearly indicates a step in that direction for the social network platform, likely in a bid to take on the mighty LinkedIn.
Furthermore, getting hold of Twitter has become notoriously hard (read: impossible) with the dissolution of its press department and the introduction of an automated reply that simply includes a poop emoji.
In my opinion, I think it will take a while before Laskie gets integrated into Twitter’s platform. Competing against LinkedIn could be a big challenge for Twitter, especially since so many people use LinkedIn to find their next job.