Beating analysts' estimates, the
online professional networking service LinkedIn on Thursday reported that its revenue jumped 59 per cent to $363.7 million in the second quarter. This is about $10 million above analysts' predictions.
LinkedIn added 20 million more registered users during the three months ending in June that reflected in its second quarter earnings. This is the service's
biggest membership gain in any quarter since LinkedIn's initial public stock offering in May 2011.
Associated Press says: The networking service has thrived by establishing itself as the go-to place for employers to find talented workers and for people to get job tips and other advice to manage their careers. It doesn't cost anything for people to set up a personal profile anchored by their resume. The company makes most of its money by charging employers, headhunters and perpetual job seekers fees to gain additional access to its member's profiles and other data.
The performance burnished the impressive resume that LinkedIn has put together since going public two years ago. The company has delivered earnings and revenue above the analysts' projections that guide investors in all nine of its quarters as a publicly traded company.
Some of those fees were raised in the second quarter, a change that should give a lift to LinkedIn's revenue.
Subscriptions and fees accounted for three-fourths of LinkedIn's revenue in the second quarter, with the rest coming from advertising.
The company is also trying to boost its advertising sales by allowing more commercial messages to be displayed within its users' feeds, much like Facebook does on its social network.
Although LinkedIn remains much smaller and less profitable than Facebook, the professional networking company is delivering much bigger returns to shareholders than its peer in social networking.
LinkedIn earned $3.7 million, or 3 cents per share, during the quarter, from $2.8 million, or 3 cents per share, last year. The earnings-per-share figure didn't change because the company has slightly more stock outstanding this year.
If not for certain items unrelated to its ongoing business, LinkedIn said it would have earned 38 cents per share. That topped the average estimate of 31 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
LinkedIn ended June with 238 million members, up from 218 million in March. Until the past quarter, LinkedIn's biggest three-month gain in membership had been 16 million.
Many of the new members are coming from outside the US., according to LinkedIn. The company said nearly two-thirds of its membership is in international markets.
With AP inputs
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