Blackboard to sell open-source LMS platform for $32M

Blackboard announced Tuesday it plans to sell its Open LMS business to the London-based Learning Technologies Group Plc (LTG) for $31.7 million. As part of the deal, Blackboard's chief learning and innovation officer, Phillip Miller, will lead the Open LMS business at LTG.  The sale will help Blackboard "simplify its business" and move customers to its Blackboard Learn and Ultra learning management system (LMS) offerings, according to a statement from the company. Open LMS is a software-as-a-service platform based on Moodle, an open-source LMS. By offloading the unit, Blackboard is shifting away from the open-source LMS market it once sought to serve. Meanwhile, for LTG, the acquisition is "a significant step" toward growing its position in the Moodle marketplace, the company said in a statement.