<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5d9fc7894af909534136c5b4-1500/chandrasekerprashanth-0420%201.jpg" border="0" alt="chandraseker Prashanth 0420 (1)" data-mce-source="Stack Overflow" data-mce-caption="Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>The popular developer Q&A site Stack Overflow is getting acquired by the European tech investor Prosus for $1.8 billion and its CEO says the move will help it expand the impact of its global community.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stack-overflow-developer-survey-10-most-dreaded-programming-languages-2020-5">Stack Overflow</a>, which was founded in 2008, says it has over 100 million monthly users who visit to ask and answer questions about coding and other technical skills. The deal will close by the third quarter of 2021, and even after the acquisition, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/7-tech-skills-increase-salaries-stack-overflow-2019-12">the company</a> will continue operating independently.</p><p>Prosus, best known for being the largest shareholder in Tencent, has also invested in edtech companies somewhat similar to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highest-paying-programming-languages-stack-overflow-developer-survey-2020-5">Stack Overflow</a>, like Codecademy and Udemy.</p><p>"We've been really impressed with their real affinity to create real companies that focus on communities," Stack Overflow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stack-overflow-ceo-prashanth-chandrasekar-2019-10">CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar</a> told Insider. "They're all about empowering and enriching communities globally, which is very much how we think about our world. They bring a tremendous amount of expertise."</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/python-programming-language-data-science-boom-2020-8">He said that Stack Overflow</a> saw its biggest-ever year of growth in 2020, increasing its average monthly sign-ups from 150,000 per month in 2019 to 200,000 per month in 2020. However, it also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stack-overflow-reduces-workforce-furloughs-layoffs-2020-5">laid off 15%</a> of its workforce, or 40 employees, last May, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business.</p><p>The company is building itself back up though: It now has about 300 workers and plans to add 100 more people over the next year. It also plans to continue to expand its community, its advertising business, and its software-as-a-service (SaaS) business for selling Stack Overflow for Teams, a platform for companies where their workers can ask and answer questions internally.</p><p>"[Prosus's] focus on workplace learning and collaboration is a phenomenal intersection with what we do with our SaaS products," Chandrasekar said.</p><p>The company had previously raised a total of $155 million at a $685 million valuation, according to PitchBook, meaning that it sold at more than double it's most recent valuation.</p><p>Stack Overflow cofounder Jeff Atwood tweeted that the deal minted <a href="https://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/1400132013068218370's=21">61 new millionaires</a>. Chandrasekar declined to comment specifically on that number but said it was a "very positive event for people who are investors or shareholders."</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation=""><p lang="en" dir="ltr">An exciting day! <a href="https://twitter.com/spolsky'ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@spolsky</a> called me and let me know. Today's sale of Stack Overflow, most importantly, lets Stack Overflow continue as an independent site -- and also mints 61 new millionaires.</p> Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1400132013068218370'ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><h2><strong>Stack Overflow plans to expand internationally under Prosus</strong></h2><p>Since 87% of Stack Overflow for Teams business<strong></strong>comes from the US, it sees a major opportunity in expanding internationally with Prosus, especially into "emerging developer communities," Chandrasekar said.</p><p>Prosus has "very deep operational and investment chops to be able to do that at scale," he added.</p><p>"The company has been on a fantastic journey," Larry Illg, CEO of edtech and online food delivery at Prosus, told Insider. "We've admired them for a long time. We have a bunch of exposure to enterprise companies and especially ones that are tied to education. We appreciate the volume of traffic and the deep ties that they have in the developer workflow."</p><p><img src="https://static5.businessinsider.com/image/60b8f67ebee0fc0019d5b1e5-2400/Larry%20Illg.jpg" border="0" alt="Larry Illg Prosus" data-mce-source="Prosus" data-mce-caption="Larry Illg, CEO of online food delivery and edtech at Prosus"></p><p>Stack Overflow wasn't "running any sort of sale process," but several companiesincluding Prosushad recently approached Stack Overflow to invest in it, Chandrasekar said. The company thought an acquisition by Prosus would be a great opportunity because it can still operate independently, keep its leadership the same, and avoid any reorganizations, he said.</p><p>"Nothing is really changing," Chandrasekar said. "Today we're back to work in realizing our mission. It's a great milestone but only the beginning of phenomenal things to come and making a bigger impact in the world."</p><h2><strong>Stack Overflow is growing its advertising and Teams business</strong></h2><p>Stack Overflow's advertising unit and Stack Overflow for Teams have both become "hypergrowth businesses," Chandrasekar said.</p><p>The focus on remote work has created a greater need for multiple types of collaboration platform. While platforms <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-zoom-2020-unprecedented-pandemic-growth-executives-new-challenges-2021-5">like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams</a> allow people to collaborate in real-time, Stack Overflow for Teams adds value by allowing people to collaborate asynchronously. Right now, Stack Overflow for Teams has 90,000 customers, including major insurance company Liberty Mutual.</p><p>"All of that enables our future growth as usage increases," Chandrasekar said. "We're seeing positive tail winds from the pandemic."</p><p>Illg expects that Stack Overflow's reach will eventually expand beyond developers. For example, other professionals in areas like finance may increasingly need access to platforms like Stack Overflow to ask and answer technical questions as businesses become more digital.</p><p>"It really fits with a lot of the things that are in line with the company's own mission," Illg said, "And the things that we do well, given that we have so much exposure to education."</p><p>While Stack Overflow's advertising arm used to focus on job listings, it pivoted towards more general ways of letting companies promote their business during the pandemic. Since Stack Overflow reaches an audience that is clearly interested in technology, companies want to put their money to work on the site, Chandrasekar said. For example, major firms like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cloud-subscription-saas-usage-based-pricing-2021-5">Twilio</a> have advertised on the site.</p><p>"Our reach and relevance team has been on fire," Chandrasekar said. "It continues to really expand and penetrate all the big enterprises."</p><p><em><strong>Got a tip'</strong>Contact this reporter via email at<a href="mailto:rmchan@businessinsider.com">rmchan@insider.com</a>, Signal at 646.376.6106,Telegram at @rosaliechan, orTwitter DM at<a href="https://twitter.com/rosaliechan17">@rosaliechan17</a>. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request.</em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stack-overflow-acquisition-prosus-tencent-shareholder-2021-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scorpion-venom-most-expensive-liquid-in-the-world-2018-8">Why scorpion venom is the most expensive liquid in the world</a></p>
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