Internet professional network LinkedIn said Thursday it bought news reading app-maker Pulse, boosting its content offerings. Pulse was founded in 2010 by Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta while they were students at Stanford University. It quickly grew to become one of the most widely used platforms for content consumption on the Internet. Pulse currently has more than 30 million users who have activated its iOS and Android-based news reader apps in more than 190 countries. Pulse is available in nine languages, and approximately 40% of users are outside the United States. More than 750 of the world?s leading publishers distribute their content through Pulse.

"We are thrilled to be able to add Pulse's considerable talent, technology, and products to our growing ecosystem of content offerings, and we believe that they will help us accelerate our ability to deliver to our members the insights they need to be better at what they do, on any device," said Deep Nishar, SVP of Products and User Experience. "To continue to deliver that value to our members, our vision for content is that LinkedIn will be the definitive professional publishing platform, and Pulse is a perfect complement to this vision."

Following closing, members of the Pulse team, including those from Engineering, Product and Design, will join LinkedIn at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The existing Pulse apps will continue to be supported as the integrated Pulse and LinkedIn teams work to build future generations of professional content consumption products.

The transaction is valued at approximately $90 million, subject to adjustment, in a combination of approximately 90 percent stock and approximately 10 percent cash, and the stock being issued in the transaction will be done so in a private placement. Subject to the completion of customary conditions, the acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2013.