 Logo used since September 2021 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
Website type | |
| Available in | 36 languages[1] |
List of languages Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (UK), English (US), Farsi, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese | |
| Founded | December 10, 2002 Mountain View, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | , |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founders | |
| Key people | Jeff Weiner (Executive Chairman) Daniel Shapero (CEO) |
| Industry | Internet |
| Revenue | c. US$19.8 billion (FY2026)[2] |
| Employees | 18,500 (2024)[1] |
| Parent | Microsoft (2016–present) |
| Subsidiaries | LinkedIn Learning Connectifier Drawbridge Glint |
| Website | linkedin |
| IPv6 support | Yes |
| Advertising | AdSense |
| Registration | Required |
| Users | 310 million MAU (Self-claimed, February 2023)[3][unreliable source?] |
| Launched | May 5, 2003 |
| Current status | Active |
LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented social networking service used globally. The platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, as it allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post their job listings. It was launched on May 5, 2003, by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly,[4] receiving financing from numerous venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital, in the years following its inception. Users can invite other people to become connections on the platform, regardless of whether the invitees are already members of LinkedIn. As the platform grew, its use expanded beyond recruiting into a primary channel for professional visibility and authority-building among entrepreneurs and business leaders.[5] LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, create and join groups, write articles, and post photos and videos.[6]
By early 2026, LinkedIn had more than 1.3 billion registered members. It was available in over 200 countries and territories.[7]
In 2007, there were 10 million users on the platform, which urged LinkedIn to open offices around the world, including India, Australia and Ireland. In October 2010, LinkedIn was ranked No. 10 on the Silicon Valley Insider's Top 100 List of most valuable startups. From 2015, most of the company's revenue came from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals; LinkedIn also introduced its own ad portal named LinkedIn Ads to let companies advertise in its platform.[8] In December 2016, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, being its largest acquisition at the time.[9] 94% of business-to-business marketers since 2017 have used LinkedIn to distribute their content.
LinkedIn has been subject to criticism over its design choices, such as its endorsement feature and its use of members' e-mail accounts to send spam mail. Due to LinkedIn's poor security practices, several incidents have occurred with the website, including in 2012, when the cryptographic hashes of approximately 6.4 million users were stolen and published online; and in 2016, when 117 million LinkedIn usernames and passwords (likely sourced from the 2012 hack) were offered for sale. The platform has also been criticized for its poor handling of misinformation and disinformation, particularly pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the 2020 US presidential election. Various countries have placed bans or restrictions on LinkedIn: it was banned in Russia in 2016, Kazakhstan in 2021, and China in 2023.
Company overview
[edit]Founded and headquartered in Mountain View, California, LinkedIn has 36 global offices as of February 11, 2024.[10][1] In February 2024, the company had around 18,500 employees.[11][4]
LinkedIn's current CEO is Daniel Shapero, who succeeded Ryan Roslansky in April 2026.[12] Jeff Weiner, previously CEO of LinkedIn, is now serving as the Executive Chairman. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, is chairman of the board.[13][14] It was funded by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures,[15] Bessemer Venture Partners and the European Founders Fund.[16] LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006.[17] Since January 2011, the company had received a total of $103 million (about $141 million in 2024) of investment.[18] LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares in May, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD".[19]
History
[edit]Founding from 2002 to 2011
[edit]
The company was founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffman and the founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com (Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Lee Hower, Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Yan Pujante, Chris Saccheri).[20] In late 2003, Sequoia Capital led the Series A investment in the company.[21] In August 2004, LinkedIn reached 1 million users.[22] In March 2006, LinkedIn achieved its first month of profitability.[22] In April 2007, LinkedIn reached 10 million users.[22] In February 2008, LinkedIn launched a mobile version of the site.[23]
In June 2008, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and other venture capital firms purchased a 5% stake in the company for $53 million, giving the company a post-money valuation of approximately $1 billion.[24] In November 2009, LinkedIn opened its office in Mumbai[25] and soon thereafter in Sydney, as it started its Asia-Pacific team expansion. In 2010, LinkedIn opened an International Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland,[26] received a $20 million investment from Tiger Global Management LLC at a valuation of approximately $2 billion,[27] announced its first acquisition, Mspoke,[28] and improved its 1% premium subscription ratio.[29] In October of that year, Silicon Valley Insider ranked the company No. 10 on its Top 100 List of most valuable startups.[30] By December, the company was valued at $1.575 billion in private markets.[31] LinkedIn started its India operations in 2009 and a major part of the first year was dedicated to understanding professionals in India and educating members to leverage LinkedIn for career development.
2011 to present
[edit]
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011. The company traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD", at $45 (≈$62.00 in 2024) per share.[32] Shares of LinkedIn rose as much as 171% on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange and closed at $94.25, more than 109% above IPO price. Shortly after the IPO, the site's underlying infrastructure was revised to allow accelerated revision-release cycles.[13] In 2011, LinkedIn earned $154.6 million in advertising revenue alone, surpassing