LinkedIn IPO Values Company At Over $3 Billion

* IPO of 7.84 mln shares at $32-$35/share

* Co offering 4.8 mln shares; selling stockholders 3 mln shares

* Co sees net proceeds of $146.6 mln from IPO (Adds valuation, details on offering)

May 9 (Reuters) - LinkedIn Corp said it would offer 7.84 million shares in its initial public offering, which could value the company at over $3 billion at the high end of its offering price range.

The company, which owns LinkedIn -- the online social network for professionals and job seekers that has 100 million members worldwide -- priced its IPO at between $32 and $35 a share.

LinkedIn is generating significant interest as one of the first social networking companies to start the process of being publicly traded, ahead of the much-anticipated Facebook IPO.

Last week, Renren Inc , one of the biggest social networking companies in China, made its trading debut after a successful IPO -- a further indicator of investor interest in the hot social media companies space. [ID:nN04185096]

LinkedIn is offering 4.8 million shares, and the rest by certain of its stockholders.

Shares owned by co-founder and LinkedIn board chairman Reid Hoffman, who is among those stockholders selling their shares in the IPO, would represent about 21.7 percent of voting power after the offering.

Other key stakeholders offering their shares include Goldman Sachs , McGraw-Hill Companies Inc and Bain Capital Venture Integral Investors LLC.

Major investors Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners that together own about two-fifths of the company will not be participating in the IPO.

In January, LinkedIn had filed with U.S. regulators for an IPO to raise up to $175 million. [ID:nSGE70R08P]

The company expects to receive net proceeds of about $146.6 million from the shares it is offering in the IPO, based on an assumed offering price of $33.50 a share.

It has applied to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "LNKD."

LinkedIn earned $15.4 million in 2010 on net revenue of $243 million. (Reporting by Brenton Cordeiro in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions

Comments

[Kathy8185]

01:03 PM on 05/10/2011

Seems like a high value.

LinkedIn is like many tools - you can't just fill out the information, connect to people and expect to get things out of it. When you join LinkedIn you have to know what your purpose is in joining and join groups and work it. When you do that the benefits start to show up. For tips, hints and techniques....
http://www.sales-training-for-business.com/join-linkedin.html

[PrayingforReagan]

10:45 AM on 05/10/2011

How does linkedin plan to make serious increases in revenue? Most recruiters use linkedin for free, I think they only have 4,000 paying customers. Will clients really pay for linkedin over other job sites?

[dissanayake]

03:17 PM on 05/10/2011

Linkedin basic is free...it offers a good service, and more options if the customer chooses to update/

[John02050]

10:28 AM on 05/10/2011

Did nobody notice Goldman Sachs is selling their shares? Is that not a sign to anybody that this is highly overvalued and they're setting the economy up for another .com bust?

Goldman is engineering the social networking bubble right now, LinkedIn is just the start and Facebook is the prize. Goldman is heavily involved with the Facebook IPO too. Pay attention people, this is a scam. Do not invest in ANY social networking sites. Just like the .com boom and bust, the stock prices will plummet and the initial investors and financial companies which took the sites public will make out like bandits while regular Joe investor unknowingly just participated in another wealth transfer engineered by the financial oligarchy.

[ThePeacemakers]

03:05 PM on 05/10/2011

I'm just curious. If the suckers don't come to the party during a public offering, will the rats get a bailout?

[Sundialsvc4]

09:37 AM on 05/10/2011

If you think so, then it is.

However, may I offer you an irresistible deal on ocean-front property in Arizona? It is sure to be the Next Big Thing...

Always remember that your "friendly broker" sells one thing: Transactions.

Peddlers of IPOs do much the same thing, and they know extremely well that the best way to put gold plating on a sack of ### is to attach an unbelievably-high "valuation" to it.

Sex sells.

Don't believe me? Grab a copy of Vanity Fair magazine and page through the advertisements, where exotic vixens are draped around ... handbags. Or selling fragrances that, of course, you can't smell.

Now turn to the middle pages and find an advertisement which -does- have a "scratch 'n sniff." First, look at the sex. Now, open the tab and sniff the actual product. Not the same, is it? No, I guarantee you that you'll feel a tremendous let-down as the magic spell is broken. The one and only thing that you're actually taking home with you is a couple grams of that smelly-stuff; not the vixen or the buff-guy; not the sex.

There is a =tremendous= amount of "sex selling" in an IPO offering, and a huge dram of crowd psychology. Buy into this IPO and you'll join a =crowd= of people who are all on a rocket to the moon.

Whether or not this actually happens to you, is immaterial to the ticket salesmen.

Welcome aboard.

[Sundialsvc4]

09:39 AM on 05/10/2011

P.S. "Vanity Fair" is one of the very best lessons in professional photography and advertising that money can buy ... and a darn good piece of journalism, as well.

[jabailo]

01:24 AM on 05/10/2011

Seems like the only people who used Linked in are people who got fired or laid off.

[Peter Combs]

12:30 AM on 05/10/2011

3 Billion on revenues of 243 Million and 15 Million in profit? It isn't worth 500 Million...with income like that...

[loki]

10:08 PM on 05/09/2011

hey if HP can get 315 mil, anything is worth whatever someone says it is.

[Linda Weiler]

06:29 PM on 05/09/2011

Seriously?

[Keyop]

04:11 PM on 05/09/2011

No, its a website with no infrastructure please.

[Arts4u]

03:41 PM on 05/09/2011

You can tell that the US is desperate for something to speculate with if Linked In as well as Facebook are being touted as the 'next great thing'.

What a sad time for American innovation we now live in.

[OSI MODEL]

03:03 PM on 05/09/2011

No diff then Google, facecrook, etc. NO PHYSICAL ASSET kinda like the 500K house made from 60K of materials DUH.....one every minute

[OutAtFirst]

02:40 PM on 05/09/2011

Join a couple of LinkedIn communities and watch your email inbox fill with junk solicitations.

[OSI MODEL]

03:01 PM on 05/09/2011

Well I'm on many groups just don't happen chief

[born 2b different]

08:10 AM on 05/10/2011

Agreed

[kdlaiusa]

01:42 PM on 05/09/2011

Linked In is pretty useless. Has it been successful in helping the jobless people find any jobs?

[OSI MODEL]

03:04 PM on 05/09/2011

If you do not use LINKEDIN and are looking for work, its no wonder you are unemployed

[Arts4u]

03:43 PM on 05/09/2011

Linked In is lame. It's no different than people 'friending' on Facebook. Ultimately, connections are personal and they are face-to-face.

[jflorish]

01:27 PM on 05/09/2011

It might be worth that, but maybe because I don't use it much .... I'm not real familiar with the advertising potential. Facebook is worth way more then this, I see that having alot of potential, this I'm not sure about .....

[mike72]

01:09 PM on 05/09/2011

I am more and more convinced that all these hyped DOTCOM SITES are nothing but money laundry actives of Wall St.

3 B here, 5 B there, 10 B there, and another 70 B in Face book.

In the process, huge amount of printed cash are laundered clean and become WEALTH of a small group of bankers.