LinkedIn Corp debuted as a publicly traded company on Thursday, rocketing beyond the $45 opening price to close at $94.25. At one point, it hit $121.97.
Below are some interesting facts about the company.
HEADQUARTERS: Mountain View, California, roughly a 15-minute walk or five-minute drive from Google.
MARKET VALUE: It has fluctuated around $10 billion, more than many well established companies such as Southwest Airlines Co and the stock exchange LinkedIn is listed on, NYSE Euronext.
EMPLOYEES: As of March 31, LinkedIn had 1,288 employees. At $97 per share, the company's market value is roughly $7 million per employee. Seven is also how many New York City subway cars could fit the entire LinkedIn staff.
USERS: A month after the company launched in May 2003, LinkedIn had 4,500 members. As of March 31, LinkedIn had 102 million members. Based on LinkedIn's market value at $97 per share, those users are valued at about $90 each.
CO-FOUNDER REID HOFFMAN: Now a billionaire. In the IPO, Hoffman sold less than 1 percent of his stake and made $5.2 million. Now he has some 19 million shares left, or almost 22 percent of voting power, and they are worth nearly $2 billion.
Hoffman is an entrepreneur and investor who stands out in the crowd in Silicon Valley, being slightly older, pudgier and friendlier than most CEOs. Hoffman was executive vice president at PayPal Inc before Ebay Inc bought it in 2002 and is on the boards of a handful of technology companies and startups including Mozilla Corp and Zynga.
Hoffman has a master's degree in philosophy from Oxford University and a bachelor's in symbolic systems from Stanford.
His LinkedIn profile: r.reuters.com/xak69r . On Twitter, he is @quixotic .
CEO JEFF WEINER: Now a multi-millionaire. In the IPO, Weiner sold about 5 percent of his stake and made $5.2 million. His remaining stake, about 2.5 percent of voting power, has a value of about $230 million, depending on the share price.
Weiner became chief executive in June 2009 after stints at venture capital firms Greylock Partners and Accel Partners and Yahoo! Inc. Before becoming CEO, he filled in as LinkedIn's interim president for about half a year.
Last year, at a conference in San Francisco, he explained why LinkedIn is not threatened by Facebook. (Click here to find out more: r.reuters.com/tak69r) One hint: keg stands.
Weiner has a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
His LinkedIn profile: r.reuters.com/wak69r . On Twitter, he is @JeffWeiner .
PECULIAR BUSINESS MODEL: LinkedIn makes more money through its offline sales force which directly solicits customers, agencies and resellers (56 percent in 2010) than online.
REVENUE: LinkedIn's net revenue grew more than 100 percent from 2009 to 2010, while the company ramped up its sales and marketing spending by 120 percent in the same period. The company posted losses in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and profits in 2007 and 2010. It broke even in the first quarter of 2011 and warned it does not expect to be profitable this year.
Sources: LinkedIn filings, Kawasaki Rail Car Inc
