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LinkedIn won't go public any time soon
LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman says the professional social network is planning to pursue an IPO at some point in the future, but it won't be any time soon. "Probably at some point a balance will occur when that’s the right thing," he told Reuters at an event in London. "That will not occur in the near term."
LinkedIn, the world's largest professional social network, has seen its user numbers grow by nearly 8m in the past three months alone. It now has more than 53m members worldwide, and recently hit the 3m mark in Britain. However, its growth is overshadowed by the rise of Facebook, which now has more than 325m users and is signing up new members at a rate of almost half a million a day.
Unlike the consumer networks, LinkedIn is believed to have been profitable for a number of years and is seen as a strong candidate for an IPO, especially as the markets begin to recover. The company raised nearly USD76m at a valuation of USD1bn in its last funding round in 2008.
"We haven't spent a dime of our last financing," said Hoffman. "I think our numbers are good enough that we are not driven by the market."
Hoffman's comments come as LinkedIn continues to issue updates for its service designed to increase its potential reach. These include testing a new streamlined design and opening up its API to external developers. The network has also recently signed deals with Twitter, Microsoft and Research In Motion that promise to provide it with a substantial boost in traffic. The network still has massive growth potential and some commentators predict an IPO before 2011.
