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LinkedIn officially acquires plugin Rapportive

Amid rumors of an impending acquisition, the two-year-old startup confirms that it's been bought by the social-networking giant.

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Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
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Dara Kerr

Rapportive announced that it was tying the knot with LinkedIn today.

"In business, partnership is dating--and we went on a lot of dates with LinkedIn. Slowly, but surely, we fell in love," Rapportive CEO Rahul Vohra wrote in a blog post. "Today, we are simply thrilled to announce that Rapportive is now part of LinkedIn!"

Earlier this month, AllThingsD broke the news that LinkedIn acquired the browser plugin Rapportive and then TechCrunch reported that the deal was sealed for $15 million.

The two companies had already partnered, so an acquisition wasn't too farfetched. The way Rapportive worked was it grabbed data from social-networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and let users view what was going on in a sidebar next to their e-mail inbox.

Although it's unclear what exactly Rapportive will be working on under its new bosses, Vohra hints in his blog post that the plugin will continue in a similar capacity at LinkedIn.

"During our partnership with LinkedIn, we got to know them very well. We found a great overlap between our visions," wrote Vohra. "Well, we have fantastic news: at LinkedIn, we will support Rapportive, and we will continue to build beautiful products that make you brilliant with people."