Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting

Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting

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January 06, 2011

LinkedIn Reported to Be Pursuing IPO



The Wall Street Journal has reported that the social-networking company LinkedIn (News - Alert) intends to file for an initial public offering (IPO) within months. The company’s members include more than 85 million business professionals. The report cites a person familiar with the matter as stating that LinkedIn is likely to file its S-1 registration statement during the first quarter. The source said that the three underwriters are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley.

Plans by Goldman Sachs Group and a Russian company to invest $500 million in Facebook (News - Alert), the privately held social networking company, were revealed earlier this week. According to reports, Goldman will use a “special purchase vehicle” to raise and to invest $1.5 billion in Facebook, a move that has drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Some are speculating that Facebook may be pushed into an IPO by pressure from regulators.

Although there has also been speculation that the decision by LinkedIn is a response to the Facebook deal, the LinkedIn IPO decision was apparently made in the fourth quarter of 2010, before news of the Facebook deal. A spokesman for LinkedIn would not comment on rumors, asserting that LinkedIn’s primary focus is on business growth and increasing long-term value for its members and shareholders.

As part of LinkedIn’s growth strategy, it recently acquired ChoiceVendor, which supplies real-world ratings and reviews of business-to-business service providers, and announced its intention to acquire mSpoke, a provider of recommendation technology.

Recent innovations for LinkedIn include the introduction of new filtering and search functions, a new product recommendation feature called Company Pages, and connectivity enhancements to its iPhone application.


Andrew Litz brings more than 20 years of experience in publishing to his role as Web Editor at TMC (News - Alert), where he covers cloud computing, networking, and other related areas. Previously, Andrew served as a technical editor for a leading analyst firm providing research and advisory services to users of information technology, as well as providing editorial support to the IEEE (News - Alert), a global professional society in the areas of electrical engineering and electronics. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
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