It’s official: LinkedIn’s long-awaited IPO is coming soon. Earlier today, the business and social network filed paperwork with the SEC. While the document doesn’t reveal three important pieces of information — the price, date or number of shares for the offering — LinkedIn did reveal a lot of other interesting details.
We’ve had a chance to comb through LinkedIn’s IPO paperwork and dig into the numbers. We’ve pulled some of the most relevant information from its S-1 and posted it here for your convenience.
Here is our overview of LinkedIn and its IPO:
IPO Details
LinkedIn revealed that its “proposed maximum aggregate offering price” — the amount it is hoping to raise — is $175 million. Due to its status as a high-profile Internet IPO, our bet is that LinkedIn will be able to raise more than that when it eventually has its initial public offering.
Morgan Stanley & Co. will be the lead underwriter for the IPO. It will be joined by Merrill Lynch, Allen & Company and UBS Securities.
LinkedIn decided not to disclose the target price for its IPO or the date, though it will almost certainly occur before the end of 2011. According to SharesPost, a secondary market for trading shares in private companies, LinkedIn is worth $2.51 billion. That number will likely rise as the IPO approaches.
Key Financial Numbers
For the first time, we have a clear insight into LinkedIn’s financial health, and overall it is strong. The social network was able to double is 2009 revenues to $161.4 million in the first nine months of 2010, led by increased revenue from advertising and job listings.
We also learned that 2010 is the first year LinkedIn was profitable. While an income of $10.1 million isn’t that strong for a multi-billion dollar company, LinkedIn is definitely going in the right direction:
■Net revenue, Jan-Sept 2010: $161.4 million
■Net revenue, 2009: $80.8 million
■Total expenses, Jan-Sept 2010: $148.9 million
■Total expenses, 2009: $84.1 million
■Net income (after tax), Jan-Sept 2010: $10.1 million
■Net income (after tax), 2009: -$3.4 million
■Cash on hand (as of Sept 30, 2010): $89.6 million
■Total assets (as of Sept 30, 2010): $197 million
In addition, LinkedIn revealed its revenue breakdown. In Jan-Sept 2010, LinkedIn earned $161.4 million in revenue from three products: hiring solutions (job listings), marketing solutions (advertising) and premium subscriptions.
Here’s the breakdown:
■Job listings, Jan-Sept 2010: $65.9 million (41% of revenue)
■Job listings, 2009: $23.75 million (29% of revenue)
■Advertising, Jan-Sept 2010:$51.37 million (32% of revenue)
■Advertising, 2009: $23.8 million (30% of revenue)
■Premium subscriptions, Jan-Sept 2010: $44.1 million (27% of revenue)
■Premium subscriptions, 2009: $33.2 million (41% of revenue)
LinkedIn Metrics
In addition to the financial numbers, LinkedIn also released information about the health of its platform. LinkedIn revealed that it gains a new member every second and now has over 90 million total members worldwide, 40 million in the U.S. and 50 million internationally. That is up from the 55.1 million members it had in 2009.
Here are a few key numbers you should know:
■Registered users: 90 million (as of December 31, 2010)
■Unique visitors: 65 million (average of Oct, Nov and Dec)
■Pageviews: 5.5 billion (average of Oct, Nov and Dec)
■Employees: 990 (as of December 31, 2010)
Top Investors and Shareholders
As part of its S-1, LinkedIn had to reveal any shareholders with more than a 5% stake in the company. It also had to reveal the ownership stakes of its executive officers and directors.
As expected, Reid Hoffman, the founder and chairman, owns the largest share of the company (along with his wife) at 21.4%. The three next biggest shareholders are venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. Together, they own approximately 39% of the company.
The following is a list of LinkedIn shareholders with more than a 1% stake in the company:
■Reid Hoffman and Michelle Yee: 19,066,032 shares, 21.4% ownership.
■Sequoia Capital: 16,840,309 shares, 18.9% ownership.
■Greylock Partners: 14,047,978 shares, 15.8% ownership.
■Bessemer Venture Partners: 4,578,253 shares, 5.1% ownership.
■Jeffrey Winer, CEO: 3,844,512 shares, 4.1% ownership.
■Steven Sordello, CFO: 1,007,327 shares, 1.1% ownership.
■Dipchand “Deep” Nishar, VP Product & User Experience 970,000 shares, 1.1% ownership.