LMS for Sale - But Probably Not D2L
An LMS company with a code name of LPO Co. is for sale, according to the Wavepoint website. I'm pretty sure that it's not the London Philharmonic Orchestra LMS, and I'm also pretty sure that it isn't Desire2Learn.There are always rumors (okay, often, not always) about whether D2L owners are going to take the money and run. At first blush, I think it's pretty easy to see why some people might jump to the conclusion that D2L is the unnamed company on this website, based on some of the sales info related to the mystery company, such as:
- "a private North American based technology firm" (notice they don't say a U.S. company, so Canada comes to mind, and D2L is privately held).
- "a leading provider of Learning Management System (LMS) technology with prestigious clients" (D2L is generally considered to be the #2 LMS company (at least size-wise) and all of their user base considers themselves to be prestigious, of course).
- " Since 2001, LPO Co. has had on average an annual growth rate of 40%" (that sounds like a lot of growth, which D2L has had, and sounds like about the right year for that growth to have started).
- "expand their markets internationally with offices now established in 3 other countries" (yep, D2L has offices in Canada, the U.S., and Australia)
- "one of the fastest growing companies in North America in the learning management sector" (that statement probably applies to D2L)
- "has developed an award winning learning management system" (yes, but everybody can win an award these days, doesn't make you special).
- "Proven scalable and robust solutions – deployed in some of the largest global networks" (well, D2L is deployed in some of the largest higher ed installations - not sure if that means the same thing).
- "Adherence to AICC, SCORM and IMS standards" (although just about anybody can say that sort of thing, apparently)
- Just on general principles. I don't think D2L would be shopping itself in this manner. Doesn't make sense and probably not a good strategy to attract the right buyer.
- Just playing the odds - as Wavepoint says, the LMS market is "made up of more than 60 different providers." Chances are good that it is someone else (but who?).
- "has developed partnerships with a number of internationally recognized technology and HR companies that act as resellers." To my knowledge, nobody is a reseller of D2L.
- "Approximately 4 million registered users of its learning management system." This one should be pretty easy to verify, but I think they have a much larger user base than 4 million. There are 400,000+ user accounts just within Minnesota.
- All of us in higher ed tend to think about the LMS market of consisting of the 6-8 companies who tend to have the market cornered in higher ed. This listing sounds like one of those corporate training LMS solutions - there are many out there, but most of us don't know much about them.
Photo (CC-by) Marcin Wichary
Comments
Their revenue numbers that they listed in the previous year was 5.9M, so it is a small to low mid size vendor.
@Craig - not trying to quibble, but the listing says they earned $5.9M, which should means $5.9M in profit, not revenue. Revenues - Expenses = Profits.
If it was D2L, that would mean that the core owners earned a profit of $5.9M after everything is covered, which probably wouldn't be too bad - but I'm not sure that they would agree.
I can confirm it is definitely not D2L. But please do keep trying to figure it out... I think I know.
John Baker
And if you think it's someone else, name the company, and it should be trivial to verify if there is a close match.
Until someone names another reasonable candidate, the only candidate is obviously D2L.
Oh, and that anonymous post that says he's John Baker - either login with a real account or call Barry up and confirm your identity.
Seriously, I did enjoy reading all the comments.
Pat Pezzelle
Pat Pezzelle
Because if you are the real John Baker, man, you better confirm with Barry, because it seems super clear that D2L is looking to sell itself.
@Barry, I'm assuming you'd be more than happy to talk with the real John Baker and get him on record as to whether or not they are this LMS company for sale. Have you tried to reach D2L for comment?
It's been fun speculation, but it's not them.
Just my 2 cents...
I'm betting Moodlerooms or rSmart. Both are in a little bit over their heads and seem to be poorly managed. Both seem to have a lot of untapped market potential which would make them attractive to a buyer/partner.
I'd be surprised if Moodlerooms did $5.9M in 2009, though. I know less about rSmart.(and even less about corporate LMSs).