Popular news reader Pulse appears to be up for sale, and the purchase may soon come from an unlikely place: Business-minded social network LinkedIn, who could pay upwards of $50 million or more for the service.
AllThingsD reported Monday that LinkedIn may be close to a deal to acquire the Pulse news reader in a deal that could be worth as much as $100 million -- nearly ten times what developer Alphonso Labs has raised thus far.
While a number of names have been bandied about as possible buyers for Pulse, LinkedIn appears to be the most likely from a list that includes Microsoft, Yahoo and even e-tailer Amazon.
"Sources told me that the deal is nearly complete and could be announced this week, although it could take several weeks to close," Kara Swisher reported Monday. "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."
Although Pulse may ultimately fetch closer to $50 million, that's still far more than CNN wound up paying for lesser-known news reader app Zite back in 2011 for roughly $20 million. Pulse is available on both iOS and Android and currently has more than 20 million users reading more than 10 million stories per day.
Whether LinkedIn is a good fit for Pulse remains to be seen, however…
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