LinkedIn Reportedly Poised to Buy Pulse App

The biggest scuttlebutt in social media today is that LinkedIn will soon close a deal to acquire Pulse, a burgeoning news reading app that is gaining in popularity at a fast clip.

Although the specific numbers aren’t known, Kara Swisher of AllThingsD estimates that LinkedIn may pay upwards of $100 million for the app.

Sources told me that the deal is nearly complete and could be announced this week, although it could take several weeks to close. As with all these kinds of things, there is a possibility that any such acquisition efforts could falter, but sources said the acquisition effort by LinkedIn is quite serious.

According to Swisher, LinkedIn’s acquisition would make sense.

“The Pulse app — which competes with services such as Flipboard, Summly, Prismatic, Circa and Zite — is offered for the Apple iPhone and iPad, Google Android devices and, most recently, the Web. Content publishers that appear on its service in a variety of categories include BBC News, TMZ and Sports Illustrated, as well as AllThingsD,” she writes.

To read Swisher’s full report, click here.