LinkedIn has announced the acquisition of SlideShare, a professional content sharing platform, for $119 million in both cash and stock (with approximately 45 per cent cash).

That is, of course, an approximate transaction value, and the deal is subject to the usual conditions, although it's expected to be closed this quarter.

SlideShare has been running for almost six years, and is a content sharing community which racked up nearly 29 million unique visitors back in March, according to comScore.

SlideShare users have uploaded over 9 million presentations to the platform in total. Some 7.4 million of those presentations are embedded across 1.4 million unique domains over the web.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner commented: "Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity.

"These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn's mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We're very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn."

Rashmi Sinha, CEO of SlideShare, added: "We built SlideShare to help professionals share presentations and connect people through content. What we can build with LinkedIn, the largest professional network on the Internet, is the most natural extension of this vision. I am excited about what we can build together."