LinkedIn's IPO
LinkedIn’s IPO in New York next week is expected to spark a gold rush of social networking flotations
LinkedIn, the social network for business professionals, will be valued at $3.3bn (£2bn) when it floats on the New York Stock Exchange next week, setting off a multimillion-dollar gold rush of social media companies.
The nine-year-old social network plans to float on the NYSE on 19 May and said it could raise as much as $274m. In January the firm said it was looking to raise $175m in the initial public offering.
The firm is cashing in amid an increasingly frenzied investor appetite for the next generation of internet firms. It will become the first major US social network to go public and follows the float of Renren, China’s version of facebook, which saw its stock soar 40% in its first day of trading on the NYSE earlier this month.
LinkedIn’s float is expected to be followed by a wave of flotations including those of Groupon, the online discount business; Zynga, maker of the Cityville and Farmville online games, and Facebook.
Facebook’s valuation has soared in recent months as investors clamour for shares in the privately held company. The company was valued at $50bn when investors put in more cash in January but its privately held shares have since traded at prices that suggest the firm could be worth more than $70bn.
Analysts said LinkedIn’s flotation would be seen as the first real indicator of investor appetite for US social media firms. Colin Gillis, internet analyst at BGC Partner in New York, said: “Renren had everything – it’s Chinese and it’s social networking. LinkedIn is going to be the first real indicator of demand for the US social network firms.”
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