Social Media IPOs: LinkedIn Joins the Crowd of Possibles

LinkedIn Corp. co-founder Reid Hoffman is once again talking about an eventual public offering for the business-oriented social network, following remarks and moves made this week by executives at Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. that indicate IPOs are the likely exit for their social media companies too.

"Probably at some point a balance will occur when that's the right thing," Hoffman told Reuters at an event in London on Wednesday. "That will not occur in the near term." The remarks echo comments made by Hoffman earlier in the year.

LinkedIn's last round of funding was $76 million in 2008, reportedly valuing the company at $1 billion. Since then, LinkedIn's membership has doubled, now totaling 53 million members.

"We haven't spent a dime of our last financing," Hoffman said. "I think our numbers are good enough that we are not driven by the market."

Since its inception in 2003, LinkedIn has raised a reported $103 million in venture capital funding from backers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), McGraw-Hill Cos. (NYSE:MHP), SAP Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Greylock Partners. Earlier this month, Hoffman joined Greylock as a partner. The venture firm recently closed the $575 million Greylock XIII fund. (Click here to read a Q&A with Hoffman on why he joined Greylock.)

While there has been plenty of M&A activity in social networking and collaboration services -- the 451 Group says $2.4 billion has been spent on 145 acquisitions in the space since 2002 -- there hasn't been an IPO in the post-2004 Web 2.0 social media generation yet.

It's increasingly clear that the leading startups are heading that way, with Facebook perhaps the furthest along.

Earlier this week, news came out that Facebook has created a dual-class stock structure, a classic pre-IPO move designed to bolster control of the company for founders, such as Mark Zuckerberg.

A Facebook rep told The Deal the company has "no plans to go public at this time."

Also this week, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told reporters that while he doesn't want to sell the microblogging service, an eventual IPO is a possibility -- although he also said the company would explore other options.

Click here to read more on potential IPOs for Facebook and Twitter. - Mary Kathleen Flynn