LinkedIn Goes Public on the NYSE
LinkedIn, a popular social media networking site for business professionals, has officially made history. On May 19th, 2011, LinkedIn went public, offering 7,840,000 shares, and making it the first social media site ever to be publicly traded. Now this may not seem like a reason for celebration, except for the rapid increase in share price. The IPO was priced at $45, which within 24 hours has skyrocketed to over $100 per share. Any investor should be very happy with their return in only one day of trading.
If you aren’t already aware of what LinkedIn is or how it can offer you any sort of value, read about it here. Founded in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to over 100 million users in over 200 countries and offers its members a variety of amenities, such as connecting with professionals and providing a job database.
The Internet meets Wall Street, and social media networks are storming the gates. Google, whose IPO back in 2004 went about as perfectly as an IPO can go, is another example of well-known Internet sites joining the stock market. Being that LinkedIn is the first social media site to go public, we have to wonder how other sites will do when it’s their time to shine. Facebook, with over 500 million users and a valuation sitting around $50 billion, may be next to sell its soul to the devil, a.k.a. Wall Street. Will we see a trend with social media sites and their IPOs netting major gains? Will these networks be the next best investment, or is there another “tech” bubble waiting to be popped? In any case, if you can make 100% gains off of your initial investment, whether it takes 24 hours or 24 days, you are doing well for yourself and your finances.
Here is a great image to show just how popular this IPO was just after its offering