Cornerstone Acquires Clustree to Build Leading AI-Powered Skills Platform for People Development

With the acquisition of Clustree, Cornerstone will accelerate the development of the world’s largest skills engine to help organizations identify, develop and deploy their talent for the roles needed today and in the future

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Jan. 16, 2020 — Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSOD), a global leader in people development solutions, today announced it has acquired Clustree, a French technology company that developed an industry-leading, AI-powered skills engine and extensive skills ontology that is being used by leading global brands, including Carrefour and SNCF.

Founded in 2014, Clustree developed one of the world’s most sophisticated skills engines using machine learning and bias-free algorithms to help organizations match their employees’ skills with specific job roles. Clustree developed its skills ontology based on the consolidation of over 1 billion job skills across multiple languages into a library of 53,000 verified skills that accurately describe any employee profile from any industry.

Organizations rely on Clustree’s AI-driven skills engine and skills ontology to analyze their employee skill data to inform critical decisions regarding whom to hire, how to develop their employees, how to structure long-term workforce planning, and ultimately, how to close the pervasive skills gap that companies are experiencing worldwide.

“The future of work will require organizations and their people to continuously learn new skills to keep up with the pace of technology and fundamental industry shifts,” said Adam Miller, founder and CEO, Cornerstone. “In order to prepare for the future, organizations must have a grasp on the skills and capabilities their talent has today so they can identify skills gaps and start developing their talent for tomorrow.”

Over the next year, Cornerstone plans to integrate the Clustree skills engine and skills ontology into its portfolio of products that make up Cornerstone’s holistic People Development solution. The integration will enable Cornerstone clients and their people to:

• Build a skills inventory. Organizations will have clear insight into their employees’ current skills and capabilities, enabling them to better match employees to specific roles and build more productive teams. Additionally, employees will have a better understanding of the specific skills and capabilities they have, as well as the specialized skills required for their job position.
• Identify precise areas for growth and development. Based on employees’ current job positions and projected career paths, organizations and their people will be able to identify potential skills gaps and access personalized development opportunities within the flow of work, including relevant, modern learning content through Content Anytime.
• Make more informed recruiting decisions. Organizations will be able to detect “hidden” skills in candidates’ resumes based on their previous job roles, credentials and accomplishments, enabling HR teams to better match candidates with open requisitions.

"We’ve dedicated the past five years to making skills the currency of work and helping organizations prepare for the future thanks to a very strong AI technology and product,” said Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan, founder and CEO, Clustree. “By joining Cornerstone, we can now expand our footprint even larger and integrate our value proposition into a leading people development solution that is used by thousands of organizations around the world.”

Cornerstone agreed to acquire Clustree for approximately $18.5 million in an all-cash deal. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. More information about this acquisition will be shared during Cornerstone's next earnings announcement.

About Cornerstone
Cornerstone is the world’s leading people development company. We believe people can achieve anything when they have the right development and growth opportunities. We offer organizations the technology, content, expertise and specialized focus to help them realize their people potential. Featuring comprehensive recruiting, personalized learning, modern content delivered in the flow of work, development-driven performance management and holistic workforce data management and insights, Cornerstone’s people development solutions are successfully used by more than 3,640 global clients of all sizes, spanning more than 40 million users across 187 countries and 43 languages. Learn more at www.cornerstoneondemand.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions and strategies of Cornerstone relating to its anticipated acquisition of Clustree. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product offerings; expected benefits to Cornerstone and its customers; expected financial impact of the acquisition on Cornerstone; and plans regarding the integration of Clustree’s products with Cornerstone’s. These statements reflect the current beliefs of Cornerstone and are based on current information available to Cornerstone as of the date hereof, and Cornerstone does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. The ability of Cornerstone to achieve these business objectives involves many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the ability to complete the transaction on the proposed terms and schedule; the failure to achieve expected synergies and efficiencies of operations between Cornerstone and Clustree; the ability of Cornerstone and Clustree to successfully integrate their respective market opportunities, technology, products, personnel and operations; the failure to timely develop and achieve market acceptance of combined products and services; the potential impact on the business of Clustree as a result of the acquisition; the loss of any Clustree customers; the ability to coordinate strategy and resources between Cornerstone and Clustree; the ability of Cornerstone and Clustree to retain and motivate key employees of Clustree; general economic conditions; as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Cornerstone’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2019 for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at csod.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.