Evaluating only Viadeo’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Unit economics as the #1 likely cause. Documented cause: Competition.
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FOUNDING
MILESTONE
CRISIS
SHUTDOWN
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Documented cause
Viadeo built a professional social network that reached 65M users globally, dominated France, and expanded to China and Africa. But LinkedIn's relentless international expansion and Microsoft's $26B acquisition in 2016 made the standalone European professional network uncompetitive. Viadeo filed for insolvency in October 2016 and was acquired by Le Figaro newspaper for a fraction of its former value.
Lesson
“Professional networks are winner-take-most globally — regional scale is insufficient when the global leader has infinite capital to invest in your home market.”