LinkedIn IPO: LNKD Valued at Over $4 Billion

LinkedIn IPO: Up to $45 per Share for LNKD

LinkedIn, the "Facebook for professionals", is gearing up for an IPO, and its stock just got a value boost. Originally priced at $32 to $35, LinkedIn stock will now be offered at $42 to $45. This would value the LinkedIn IPO at $4.11 billion if stock sold at midrange. [Update: LinkedIn will make its IPO at $45 per share, for a market value of around $4.3 billion.]

The LinkedIn IPO share price will be set on May 18, and trading will begin on the morning of May 19 as LNKD on the New York Stock Exchange.

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LinkedIn (LNKD) IPO on May 19, 2011

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uploaded by Jordan Yerman

LinkedIn makes its money primarily through selling pro accounts. The basic accounts are free, but maddeningly limited.  LinkedIn has no aggressive API usage, so integration with other sites is basically nil. While LinkedIn groups exist, Quora has been making deeper inroads in crowdsourced question-and-answer. While the company is a reasonably strong, it just hasn't been doing anything visibly new recently.

Most people I know keep forgetting to check their LinkedIn accounts-- this is not a good sign, anecdotally. The site just hasn't changed much since its inception: It's eight years old, and first-time user experience is actually more opaque than it was a year ago.

An IPO would light a fire under the management's collective ass, but, should LinkedIn fail to deliver to stockholders' satisfaction, that stock value, which is somewhat high to begin with, will drop, or at least fail to grow in any meaningful way.

Also see: Seeking Alpha: LinkedIn Upside is Now Limited.