DRAMA continues for Blackboard. The company and Moodle, an Australian open-source software company and learning platform, have ended their partnership.
Their history is complicated. Michael Feldstein at e-Literate writes that Moodle has been financially dependent on Blackboard as as partner, creating “some risk.” The change gives Moodle the chance to prove it can sustain itself on its own—as long as it can,” Feldstein writes. “On the Blackboard side, it's bad news in the short term, but the impact is hard to quantify,” he explains.
Blackboard’s first formally partnered with Moodle in 2012, when it bought several companies that were already Moodle Partners.
But, it apparently wasn’t a rosy relationship. Moodle CEO Martin Dougiamas is quoted in a press release as saying that Blackboard “has always been a sensitive and sometimes confusing subject to the Moodle community, since Blackboard has of course continued to develop and sell its own competing products.” He adds that the money coming in from that partnership “has been steadily declining every year since 2012.”
The Washington Business Journal reports that Blackboard “has for years sold Moodle-based products and sent royalties to Moodle under a licensing agreement.” But now, Blackboard will no longer be able to use the “Moodle” trademark.
Blackboard painted the breakup differently, saying that it “strategically decided to end” the partnership, and can now devote more resources to open-source development. "Exiting the Certified Moodle Partner program will not impact our unwavering commitment to open-source and open standards,” said Kathleen Vieira, chief portfolio officer at Blackboard, in a press release.
Blackboard’s share of the course-management market has been slipping in recent months. Its first customer, Cornell University, recently dropped it for its rival, Canvas. The company has more than $1.3 billion of rated debt, Bloomberg reports.
