Linkedin worth $1 billion USD??

• Is LinkedIn Worth $1 Billion?  social network LinkedIn raised $53 million in Series D funding at a valuation of $1 billion ...Discussion: Beyond Search and broadstuff

Credit Crisis makes Linkedin more valuable...

• Professional networks surge in popularity
• Question:  as the credit crunch goes global...will other global competitors also gain?  I was reading today that while many (most) online businesses are losing value in the credit crunch, the site LinkedIn is actually getting more valuable.   As people worry about job security, they turn more to LinkedIn for networking / job searching.

Show me the Money:

• on track to hit $100 million in revenue by 2008

• An initial free membership lets users request five online introductions to other members. For fees ranging from $5 to $200 a month, participants can request more introductions and obtain the ability to e-mail other members, which is not permitted with a free membership

• Mar 07, 2006 -- Linkedin Corporation today announced that due to the rapid adoption of its premium services, the company expects to reach profitability this month. Linkedin 's premium accounts were introduced just seven months ago and are priced between $60 and $2,000 per year. Linkedin closed venture capital rounds of $4.7 million and $10 million in November 2003 and October 2004, respectively, and will not require any additional investment to fund business operations

• While a certain percentage of new members will directly contribute to the company's bottom line by upgrading their account or posting a job, each new member adds value to the Linkedin network by contributing his or her professional profile. The value of the network grows stronger with each new member: in new people and in trusted professional connections. Many will also click on an ad or invite their trusted contacts, so Linkedin is expecting healthy revenue growth without needing to introduce new premium services in 2006.

• The founder described the situation like this: "Our business is built around premium services. The average user pays $200 to $300 a year, and some pay $2,000 a year. Who would do that? Let's say a headhunter goes to Linkedin twice a month and does five searches and finds 14 people. He shows seven of them to a client, who interviews three and hires one. The headhunter gets $30,000. That easily justifies the cost of Linkedin ."

• "How does the premium service model work? We have four levels. For $60 a year, people can post information and be contacted. For $200 a year, they can contact three users a month. You can contact more people as you subscribe to higher tiers of service. Do you think advertising can work on free sites like MySpace and Facebook? Yes. The ads should be very effective as advertisers learn how use demographic data to target ads. There are challenges associated with advertising in an environment of user-created content, but that can be managed. More work needs to be done, but it is doable. "

• Unlike other networking sites' advertising-driven model that puts them on the treadmill of attracting ever more users, LinkedIn also makes money from services. People--mainly the site's 60,000 recruiters--pay an average of $3,600 a year for premium features such as sending messages to LinkedIn members outside their own networks. Corporate members pony up six-figure fees for access to the network. In recent months, the buzz around the Valley has LinkedIn in acquisition talks with Yahoo. (Neither party will confirm or deny.)

Open source:

• Open API...used by companies such as TechCrunch / Crunchbase

Competition

• Business sites XING, ZoomInfo, combine social network, search
• Visible Path said to be bought

More info

more about Linkedin