LinkedIn IPO: company valued at over $3 bn

BANGALORE, INDIA: LinkedIn Corp said it would offer 7.84 million shares in its initial public offering, which could value the company at over $3 billion at the high end of its offering price range.

The company, which owns LinkedIn -- the online social network for professionals and job seekers that has 100 million members worldwide -- priced its IPO at between $32 and $35 a share.

LinkedIn is generating significant interest as one of the first social networking companies to start the process of being publicly traded, ahead of the much-anticipated Facebook IPO.

Last week, Renren Inc, one of the biggest social networking companies in China, made its trading debut after a successful IPO -- a further indicator of investor interest in the hot social media companies space.

LinkedIn is offering 4.8 million shares, and the rest by certain of its stockholders.

Shares owned by co-founder and LinkedIn board chairman Reid Hoffman, who is among those stockholders selling their shares in the IPO, would represent about 21.7 percent of voting power after the offering.

Other key stakeholders offering their shares include Goldman Sachs, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc and Bain Capital Venture Integral Investors LLC.

Major investors Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners that together own about two-fifths of the company will not be participating in the IPO.

In January, LinkedIn had filed with U.S. regulators for an IPO to raise up to $175 million.

The company expects to receive net proceeds of about $146.6 million from the shares it is offering in the IPO, based on an assumed offering price of $33.50 a share.

It has applied to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "LNKD."

LinkedIn earned $15.4 million in 2010 on net revenue of $243 million.