LinkedIn IPO values company at $3 billion

LinkedIn Corp is planning to sell shares to investors for $32 to $35 each in an initial public offer. With this, the professional networking website will become one of the first major US social networking sites to come out with an IPO.
 
According to the company, the offer could raise up to $274.4 million and estimates that its net proceeds, based on an IPO price of $33.50 per share, would be about $146.6 million after expenses.

Analysts expect other popular online services that connect people with common interests like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga to follow suit.

According to the company, the IPO would include 7.84 million Class A shares at a price of $32 to $35 each, with a green shoe option for the sale of another 1.18 million shares.

The company also has Class B shares, with 10 times the voting power of Class A shares that would represent 99.1 per cent of votes after the offer.

The proceeds would be used to fund existing operations and expand the business, which may include buying other companies or technologies. LinkedIn would have 94.5 million shares outstanding following the offer, giving the company a value of over $3 billion at the $32 price.

LinkedIn, which is focused on job-related connections, boasts over 100 million members while Facebook, which is much larger, has more than 600 million. Facebook has indicated that it would likely file its IPO plans by the end of April 2012.