Dive Brief:

• Lithium Technologies, a provider of social customer experience solutions for enterprise clients, has entered a deal to acquire social media ranking platform Klout. 
• Both companies are issuing a statement about the deal in a joint press conference this morning. 
• The estimated $200-million deal comes in advance of Lithium Technologies' upcoming IPO, which is expected to happen later this year. 

Dive Insight: 

Klout has had a bit of a controversial past, but it's promising that Lithium has noticed the value in its algorithm. It's not yet clear whether (or rather how) that algorithm will be integrated into Lithium's software, but it's quite possible that will be the case to help the company compete with Salesforce.com and other major competitors. Klout's ideas were always big, but the execution seemed to hold it back. Perhaps Lithium can find a better fit for the platform.