We have been hearing it for some time. LinkedIn the social media site aimed at professionals is is set to go public on May 19.
With its IPO, the company aims to raise as much as $ 274 million, and will be trading in the NYST as LNKD. Preliminary reports suggest that shares are expected to trade in the range of $32 – $35 with 7.84 million shares available for buying in the first round.
The IPO is expected to raise the valuation of LinkedIn to$3 billion.
With over 100 million users across the world ( over 10 million in India alone), LinkedIn’s financial numbers as of 2010 show a net income of $10.1 million and net revenues of $161.4 million in the first nine months of 2010.
LinkedIn is the first of a slew of anticipated social media IPOs set for the next year or so. Others include Facebook, Zynga, Groupon, Pandora, Kayak, Yelp, Rovio and Zillow. Renren, billed as the “Facebook of China,” went public this month and raised $743.4 million.
LinkedIn’s top venture investors include Sequoia Capital, which will own 17.8% after the IPO; Greylock Partners, which will own 14.9%; Bessemer Venture Partners, with 4.8%; and Bain Capital Ventures, which is the only one of these firms selling shares in offering, leaving it with 3.9%.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan are among the bookrunners for the LinkedIn offering.
LinkedIn says it will use these funds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, sales and marketing activities, general and administrative matters and capital expenditures. The funds could also be used for acquisitions investments in complimentary technologies. LinkedIn adds that based on its current financial position, it will not need to use the funds raised from the offering in the next year.
( Inputs from Mashable, Techcrunch, WSJ and Reuters)
Courtesy@dailyator.com
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