NEW YORK – Professional networking website LinkedIn Corp. plans to sell shares to investors for $32 to $35 each in an initial public offering, one of the first for a major U.S. social networking site.
The company said the offering could raise up to $274.4 million. Even at the bottom of the proposed price range, LinkedIn would have a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.
LinkedIn’s debut could offer a preview of investor demand for potential IPOs of other popular online services that connect people with common interests — Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, for example.
LinkedIn, which focuses on job-related connections, has more than 100 million members. Facebook is much larger, with more than 600 million. Facebook has signaled that it’s likely to file its IPO plans by the end of April 2012. Its market value has been pegged at $50 billion, based on a private investment in January.
Most of LinkedIn’s revenue comes from fees it charges for recruiters and businesses that want expanded access to the website to help fill job openings. The company also sells online ads.
Last year, LinkedIn posted net income of $3.4 million on revenue of $243.1 million. In the first three months of this year, its revenue has more than doubled from the same period a year ago.
LinkedIn will offer 4.8 million Class A shares. The company’s stockholders, including founder Reid Hoffman, Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs and publishing company McGraw-Hill, will also sell 3 million shares.
The company said there will be 94.5 million Class A and Class B common shares outstanding after the IPO.
Net proceeds, based on an IPO price of $33.50 per share, would be about $146.6 million after expenses, the company said.
Funds will be used for working capital for its business and possibly for acquisitions.
The company was expected to price its shares on May 18, IPO analyst Scott Sweet said. LinkedIn expects to trade under the symbol “LNKD” on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company was started in 2003 and is based in Mountain View, Calif.
Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan are managing the offering.
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