Report: LinkedIn (Possibly) Got Some Funding
What does it mean? It could mean LinkedIn got some cash. Or if this is anything like the News Corp. sale rumors last year, it could mean, well, less than that.
UPDATE: As a reader gently points out, LinkedIn did claim to be profitable back in Jan. 2007, as it was raising its last $12 million. At the time, LinkedIn also claimed it would be earning $100 million in 2008. As we've reported, they are claiming extraordinarily high rates for advertising. We treat most claims of "profitability" with skepticism, and we don't know why LinkedIn needs to raise more cash with that kind of dough rolling in. No doubt they'll explain if Allen & Co. can strike a deal.
>>after burning through the previously-raised $27.5 million
seriously, this is just terribly shoddy reporting.
i know you write for a blog, but please do at least a *LITTLE* bit of fact-checking before you crap all over a solid company with your snide & blatantly ignorant remarks about their financials.
LinkedIn is profitable... almost a year ago, in fact (i attended their "in-the-black" party last summer).
does blodget pay you flat rate for your crappy reporting, or do you charge by the hour for parroting some random VentureBeat's dumb-as-yahoo-shareholders commenters?
jesus.
get a friggin journalism 101 clue dude.
You are assuming that LinkedIn is getting funding because a board meeting ended late? Seriously guys, stick to YHOO-MSFT - at least we're used to tuning that slander out.
that said, i think it's pretty well-known here in the valley that they turned the corner on breaking even quite a while ago... especially since most of the other social networks have greater challenges on monetizing, LinkedIn is notable as the shining exception to that story.
as to why they might want to raise a round even tho they're profitable, i'd guess it's probably to provide some liquidity for investors to cash out some of their investment (LinkedIn was intitially funded in 2002, perhaps a few investors want to take a little money off the table).
in any case, apologies if i wasn't so "gentle" (hah, got that ;) on the earlier comment. obviously i haven't been getting my daily allocation of valium & schadenfreude.
peace out,