LinkedIn Corp. plans to raise as much as $175 million in what’s likely to be the first public offering for a major U.S. social-networking site.
LinkedIn, the largest professional-networking website,
hired Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase &
Co. to lead the offering, according to a filing today with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company didn’t
specify how many shares it would offer or at what price.
The social-networking site could draw strong demand in the
public markets because it has steadily boosted sales from
advertising, subscriptions and hiring services, said Tom Taulli,
an independent technology analyst. The company was profitable in
the nine months that ended in September and its sales more than
tripled from 2007 to 2009, LinkedIn said in its filing.
“There’s a lot to like if you’re an investor,” said
Taulli, who is based in Los Angeles. LinkedIn is “growing
quickly, it has multiple revenue streams and there’s global
potential here,” he said.
Biggest shareholders include co-founder Reid Hoffman and
his family and trust, with 21 percent; Sequoia Capital, with 19
percent; Greylock Partners, which holds 16 percent; and Bessemer
Venture Partners, with 5.1 percent. LinkedIn Chief Executive
Officer Jeff Weiner owns 4.1 percent.
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