Blackboard Sees Strong Momentum in Corporate Learning

Blackboard Recognized in Leading Analyst Firm's Magic Quadrant

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB),
a global leader in education technology, today announced that it has been
positioned in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems, an
influential report evaluating the completeness of vision and ability to
execute of vendors in the market.

Blackboard has seen significant growth in the corporate learning space where
an increasing number of corporations of all sizes have adopted the company's
teaching and learning platform to deploy training programs efficiently and
cost effectively. In the Magic Quadrant report, Gartner "evaluates vendors
based on their ability to articulate current and future market direction,
innovation, customer needs and competitive forces."

The report notes that, "In 2009, we evaluated Corporate Learning System
vendors for comprehensiveness of their offering. Those that presented more
effective components and capabilities generally improved in the areas of
analytics, learner ease-of-use and support for structured social and informal
learning. The social learning platform has emerged as a key component."(1)

"With deep roots in education, Blackboard knows how to support the
expectations instructors and learners have for acquiring and sharing
knowledge," said Tim Hill, President of Blackboard Learn, Professional
Education. "The corporate and government markets have embraced our solution
set because they increasingly need an easy way to allow instructors, subject
matter experts and learners to interact in engaging social learning
environments. We routinely hear that this kind of collaboration helps directly
impact business outcomes and objectives, often in ways beyond initial
expectations."

Blackboard's intuitive solutions enable companies, government and professional
organizations to upload, update and distribute custom learning content in a
wide variety of formats and connect their learning programs to an active user
community, regional support groups and training opportunities.

"The Blackboard platform fits within our transformational way of thinking and
aligns with our company's values of accountability, commitment, collaboration,
innovation and leadership," said Bill Reggio, director of sales training and
development at Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.

"The Blackboard learning environment lets our sales representatives engage
with content and with the management team before, during and after the
learning event and enables collaborative learning opportunities that increase
their belief in the product and passion for success," added Jason Zeman,
associate director of sales training and development at Watson
Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Blackboard has seen growth for its learning platform in corporate, government,
military and professional organizations in the United States and globally.
Blackboard's flagship learning platform, Blackboard Learn((TM)), includes a
range of powerful capabilities, social learning tools and Web 2.0 innovations
to more effectively engage learners. The platform can support secure instant
messaging, blogs, journals and enhanced group tools as well as notification
dashboards and alerts that help keep learners engaged and on top of their
work.

More information about the report, Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning
Systems, is available at http://www.blackboard.com/gartner.

For more information about Blackboard's solutions for corporate learning,
please visit: http://blackboard.com/corp.

About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise technology and
innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and
learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of
higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations
to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and
security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in
1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North
America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and
prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those
indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important
factors, including the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our
Form 10-K filed on August 6, 2009 with the SEC. In addition, the
forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the
Company's views as of October 19, 2009. The Company anticipates that
subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change.
However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking
statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any
obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied
upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to October
19, 2009.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is copyrighted (2009) by Gartner, Inc., and is
reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a
marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis
of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as
defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service
depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select
only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is
intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to
action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to
this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose.

(1) Rozwell, Carol. "Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems," Gartner.
September 10, 2009.

SOURCE Blackboard Inc.

Matthew Maurer, Blackboard Inc., +1-202-463-4860, ext. 2637,
matthew.maurer@blackboard.com