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Tag: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn Is Letting Everyone Use Its Publisher Platform

    LinkedIn Is Letting Everyone Use Its Publisher Platform

    LinkedIn announced that it is opening up its publishing platform – previously only available to “Influencers” like Richard Branson and Conan O’Brien – to all members.

    Now, when you publish a post on LinkedIn, the content becomes part of your profile, and is shared with your trusted network. According to LinkedIn, it “has the ability to reach the largest group of professionals ever assembled”.

    Given how much LinkedIn has been utilizing email to spread influencer posts, I can’t help but expect LinkedIn to include users’ posts in personalized emails to people in your network. This is just speculation though.

    Along with the opening of the platform comes the ability to follow members that aren’t in your network, and build more followers without direct connections.

    “Members can continue to share their expertise by posting photos, images, videos and their original presentations on SlideShare,” notes LinkedIn’s Ryan Roslansky. “Every professional has valuable experience to share. Trying to grow your business by reducing customer attrition? Read the post from Monica Adractas, head of customer retention at Box, on churning out churn. Just starting a career in sales? Read the post from Brent Beshore, the founder/CEO at adventur.es, on how to sell anything. Need a science-based planning tool for river restoration? Read the post from Glen Leverich, senior geomorphologist at Stillwater Sciences, on A Science-based Planning Approach for Riparian Restoration.”

    LinkedIn first launched the Influencer program in 2012. The average post, the company says, drives over 31,000 views and get over 250 likes and 80 comments. It also announced the addition of a few new influencers to the program including: Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, CEO of AOL Brand Group Susan Lyne, and CNBC host Suze Orman.

    The new publishing capabilities will become available to everyone over the course of the next few months.

    Image via LinkedIn

  • Conan O’Brien Discusses Turning Down Microsoft CEO Job On LinkedIn

    Conan O’Brien Discusses Turning Down Microsoft CEO Job On LinkedIn

    Conan O’Brien took to LinkedIn to explain why he turned down the Microsoft CEO job, which was recently awarded to longtime staffer Satya Nadella.

    This is Conan’s fifth LinkedIn post since becoming a “LinkedIn Influencer” last fall.

    Conan congratulates Nadella on his new role, telling him he was “the right second choice.” He continues:

    Sure, the Microsoft board never technically asked me to be their CEO. I did, however, get a tweet from Bill Gates once. So, you do the math. That is why I was proactive, as business visionaries often are, and sent a very nice “thanks, but no thanks” note with an Edible Arrangement to their Redmond, Washington campus.

    The complete lack of any response to my flat-out rejection of their non-offer spoke volumes. One day, I’m sure they’ll get over it.

    It would have been easy to run a scrappy start-up like Microsoft. As easy as booting up Windows ‘98 on my Compaq Presario and winning a game of Minesweeper.

    Turning Microsoft back into an industry titan like Wang or Commodore would have required a simple three point action-plan: 1. Zune 2. More Zune 3. Even More Zune.

    He goes on to say that he would have spent hundreds of millions marketing to get everyone in America to “‘Bing their symptoms’ after that weekend trip to Jaurez’ and would add a new “Tiny Windshield WIpers” peripheral device to Surface purchases. Also, all versions of Windows would come with Scarlett Johnansson’s voice, and Excel would have built-in Instagram filters.

    It’s nice to see that after about four months, Conan’s still having fun with LinkedIn, where he has so far amassed 132,661 followers. He’s got a ways to go to catch Richard Branson, whom LinkedIn plasters all over just about everything.

    Image via LinkedIn

  • Get Better At Using LinkedIn Recruiter

    Get Better At Using LinkedIn Recruiter

    LinkedIn is out to get people using LinkedIn Recruiter more by simply showing them how to take advantage of it better.

    The professional social network has begun a new video series called LinkedIn Minutes, which provide short tips on how to use different LinkedIn tools. The first sub-series of this is out, and deals with Recruiter:

    Presumably, LinkedIn will offer tips on other services in the near future. You can bookmark the LinkedIn Minutes page to check back for updates.

    Image via YouTube

  • LinkedIn Shutters Intro and Slidecast in Order to ‘Concentrate on Fewer Things’

    LinkedIn Shutters Intro and Slidecast in Order to ‘Concentrate on Fewer Things’

    Less than 4 months ago, LinkedIn launched a new email tool that looked pretty promising. They called it LinkedIn Intro, and it basically allowed users to opt-in to letting the company inject LinkedIn content (pictures, profile info, etc) into incoming emails. Although an interesting idea, we noted at the time that it had some security experts pulling their hair out.

    Well, it doesn’t really matter anymore because LinkedIn is shutting it down. In an effort to “do fewer things better,” here’s what LinkedIn’s Deep Nishar had to say in a blog post:

    …Our goal is to provide our members with seamless experiences – not just individual products – that will help them become more productive and successful professionals. With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at our product offerings and made the decision to shut down some services.

    We are shutting down LinkedIn Intro as of March 7, 2014. Intro was launched last year to bring the power of LinkedIn to your email inbox on your iPhone. While Intro is going away, we will continue to work on bringing the power of LinkedIn to wherever our members work. Email, where the average professional spends more than a quarter of their time, is one of those places, so we’ll continue to look for ways to bring this kind of functionality to our members through existing partnerships.

    If you want to go ahead and remove LinkedIn Intro, here’s how you go about it:

    To remove a LinkedIn Intro mail account:

    – From your iPhone home screen, tap the iPhone Settings app.
    – Tap the General section. If you aren’t taken to the main page of your iPhone settings, tap the navigation arrow in the top left until you get back to the main settings page.
    – Scroll down and tap the Profiles section.
    – Tap all profiles that start with Intro to remove. It’s important to remove all of them.

    Intro isn’t the only thing on the chopping block, as LinkedIn is also shutting down Slidecast. Users have until April 30th to download their presentations.

    “The SlideShare team will continue to focus on building new products and improving our existing experiences to make our products even better for our members,” says Nishar.

    Last, but not least, LinkedIn is eliminating support for their iPad App on pre-6.0 versions of iOS.

    Just a round of spring cleaning for the business-oriented social network. Yesterday, the company released their Q4 earnings, as well as the acquisition of data insights provider Bright.

  • LinkedIn Releases Earnings, Announces Acquisition Of Bright

    LinkedIn Releases Earnings, Announces Acquisition Of Bright

    LinkedIn just released its Q4 and full year 2013 earnings, and announced an agreement to acquire data insights provider Bright for $120 million – 73% stock and 27% cash.

    “What LinkedIn does best is connect talent with opportunity at massive scale,” said Deep Nishar, SVP of Products and User Experience. “By leveraging Bright’s data-driven matching technology, machine-learning algorithms and domain expertise, we can accelerate our efforts and build out the Economic Graph.”

    Bright Founder Eduardo Vivas added, “We’re excited to join LinkedIn because the company shares a similar vision and is equally obsessed about using data and algorithms to connect prospects and employers.”

    LinkedIn will gain “several” of Bright’s employees including engineering and product talent.

    In its earnings report, LinkedIn reported $447.2 million in revenue for the fourth quarter, up 47% year-over-year. Net income was $3.8 million, compared to $11.5 million for the same quarter last year.

    LinkedIn

    “Solid fourth quarter performance capped another successful year where improvements in scale and relevance across our platform led to strong member engagement,” said CEO Jeff Weiner. Moving forward, we are investing significantly in a focused number of long-term initiatives that will allow us to realize our vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”

    The social network has about 277 million members. It’s been getting over 2 new members per second, and has 187 million monthly unique visitors.

    Professionals outside of the U.S. make up 66% of LinkedIn’s membership, Weiner said on the earnings call. He expects most access to come from mobile in 2014.

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., February 6, 2014 – LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD), the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, with approximately 277 million members, reported its quarterly results for the fourth quarter of 2013:

     

    • Revenue for the fourth quarter was $447.2 million, an increase of 47% compared to $303.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
    • Net income for the fourth quarter was $3.8 million, compared to net income of $11.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was $48.2 million, compared to $40.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP measures exclude tax-affected stock-based compensation expense and tax-affected amortization of acquired intangible assets.
    • Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $111.4 million, or 25% of revenue, compared to $78.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, or 26% of revenue.
    • GAAP diluted EPS for the fourth quarter was $0.03, compared to GAAP diluted EPS of $0.10 for the fourth quarter 2012; non-GAAP diluted EPS for the fourth quarter was $0.39, compared to non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.35 for the fourth quarter of 2012.

     

    “Solid fourth quarter performance capped another successful year where improvements in scale and relevance across our platform led to strong member engagement,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. “Moving forward, we are investing significantly in a focused number of long-term initiatives that will allow us to realize our vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”

    Fourth Quarter Operating Summary

     

    • Talent Solutions: Revenue from Talent Solutions products totaled $245.6 million, an increase of 53% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Talent Solutions revenue represented 55% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 53% in the fourth quarter of 2012.
    • Marketing Solutions: Revenue from Marketing Solutions products totaled $113.5 million, an increase of 36% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Marketing Solutions revenue represented 25% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 27% in the fourth quarter of 2012.
    • Premium Subscriptions: Revenue from Premium Subscriptions products totaled $88.1 million, an increase of 48% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Premium Subscriptions represented 20% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2012.

     

    Revenue from the U.S. totaled $271.1 million, and represented 61% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013. Revenue from international markets totaled $176.1 million, and represented 39% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013.

    Revenue from the field sales channel totaled $270.7 million, and represented 61% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013. Revenue from the online, direct sales channel totaled $176.5 million, and represented 39% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013.

    For additional information, please see the “Selected Company Metrics and Financials” page on LinkedIn’s Investor Relations site.

    Fourth Quarter Highlights and Strategic Announcements

    In the fourth quarter of 2013:

     

    • LinkedIn launched several new products including a re-imagined iPad app, and a new Pulse app integrated with LinkedIn to deliver the most relevant news and professional insights. Mobile apps continue to drive deeper mobile engagement, with mobile now representing 41% of traffic to LinkedIn.
    • LinkedIn hosted its annual Talent Connect conference, the largest talent acquisition conference in the world with over 3,000 attendees in the US and 1,000 attendees in the UK. During the conference, LinkedIn unveiled a completely mobilized version of its product experience with the launch of Recruiter Mobile, Mobile Work With Us ads, Sponsored Jobs for the homepage feed, and the ability for candidates to apply for jobs via mobile.
    • LinkedIn broadened its Marketing Solutions product offerings with the launch of Showcase pages, giving B2B marketers the most effective tool to connect their brands with professionals. Marketing Solutions also benefited from the first full quarter of Sponsored Updates, contributing 13% of product segment revenue.

     

    “We ended 2013 in a strong position across engagement and monetization, and we are investing aggressively in 2014 for both our member and customer platforms,” said Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn.

    Business Outlook

    LinkedIn is providing guidance for the first quarter and full year of 2014:

     

    • Q1 2014 Guidance: Revenue is expected to range between $455 million and $460 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to range between $106 million and $108 million. The company expects depreciation and amortization to be approximately $48 million, and stock-based compensation to be approximately $68 million.
    • Full Year 2014 Guidance: Revenue is expected to range between $2.02 billion and $2.05 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately $490 million. The company expects depreciation and amortization to be approximately $225 million, and stock-based compensation to be approximately $325 million.

     

    Quarterly Results Webcast and Conference Call

    LinkedIn will host a webcast and conference call to discuss its fourth quarter 2013 financial results and business outlook today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Jeff Weiner and Steve Sordello will host the webcast, which can be viewed on the investor relations section of the LinkedIn website at http://investors.linkedin.com/. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the company’s financial and operating results. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on the website.

    Upcoming Events

    Management will participate in upcoming financial Q&A discussions at industry events on February 11, 2014, March 3, 2014, and March 12, 2014. LinkedIn will furnish a link to these events on its investor relations website, http://investors.linkedin.com/ for both the live and archived webcasts.

    About LinkedIn

    Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. With approximately 277 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet. The company has a diversified business model with revenue coming from Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions and Premium Subscriptions products. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, LinkedIn has offices across the globe.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    To supplement its consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, the company uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP diluted EPS (collectively the “non-GAAP financial measures”). The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The company believes that they provide useful information about operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making.

    The company excludes the following items from one or more of its non-GAAP measures:

    Stock-based compensation. The company excludes stock-based compensation because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. The company further believes this measure is useful to investors in that it allows for greater transparency to certain line items in its financial statements and facilitates comparisons to competitors’ operating results.

    Amortization of acquired intangible assets. The company excludes amortization of acquired intangible assets because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. In addition, excluding this item from various non-GAAP measures facilitates internal comparisons to historical operating results and comparisons to competitors’ operating results.

    Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments. The company adjusts non-GAAP net income by including the income tax effects of excluding stock-based compensation and the amortization of acquired intangible assets. The company believes that the inclusion of the income tax effects provides additional transparency to the overall or “after tax” effects of excluding these items from non-GAAP net income.

    For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” table in this press release. This accompanying table has more details on the GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations between these financial measures. Additionally, the company has not reconciled adjusted EBITDA guidance to net income guidance because it does not provide guidance for either other income (expense), net, or provision for income taxes, which are reconciling items between net income and adjusted EBITDA. As items that impact net income are out of the company’s control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted, the company is unable to provide such guidance. Accordingly, a reconciliation to net income is not available without unreasonable effort.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release and the accompanying conference call contain forward-looking statements about our products, including our investments in products, technology and other key strategic areas, certain non-financial metrics, such as member growth and engagement, and our expected financial metrics such as revenue, adjusted EBITDA, depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation for the first quarter of 2014 and the full fiscal year 2014. The achievement of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements the company makes.

    The risks and uncertainties referred to above include – but are not limited to – risks associated with: our limited operating history in a new and unproven market; engagement of our members; the price volatility of our Class A common stock; general economic conditions; expectations regarding the return on our strategic investments; execution of our plans and strategies, including with respect to mobile products and features; security measures and the risk that they may not be sufficient to secure our member data adequately or that we are subject to attacks that degrade or deny the ability of members to access our solutions; expectations regarding our ability to timely and effectively scale and adapt existing technology and network infrastructure to ensure that our solutions are accessible at all times with short or no perceptible load times; our ability to maintain our rate of revenue growth and manage our expenses and investment plans; our ability to accurately track our key metrics internally; members and customers curtailing or ceasing to use our solutions; our core value of putting members first, which may conflict with the short-term interests of the business; privacy and changes in regulations in the United States, Europe or elsewhere, which could impact our ability to serve our members or curtail our monetization efforts; litigation and regulatory issues; increasing competition; our ability to manage our growth; our ability to recruit and retain our employees; the application of US and international tax laws on our tax structure and any changes to such tax laws; acquisitions we have made or may make in the future; and the dual class structure of our common stock.

    Further information on these and other factors that could affect the company’s financial results is included in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, as well as the company’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, and additional information will also be set forth in our Form 10-K that will be filed for the year ended December 31, 2013, which should be read in conjunction with these financial results. These documents are or will be available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Relations page of the company’s website athttp://investors.linkedin.com/. All information provided in this release and in the attachments is as of February 6, 2014, and LinkedIn undertakes no duty to update this information.

    Image via LinkedIn (Flickr)

  • Being Santa Claus Is Harder Than It Looks

    Being Santa Claus Is Harder Than It Looks

    Most people probably think that mall Santas have a pretty easy gig. All they have to do is listen to what children want and keep up the facade that Santa Claus is real. As it turns, out, however, being a professional Santa Claus takes more work than it might seem.

    In a new study by LinkedIn, the social network looked at the skills of nearly 1,000 professional Santas on its network. First, they found that professional Santas are only Santa for one part of the year. For the other 10 months, they are involved in any number of roles, from performers and stunt doubles to public speakers and CEOs.

    Big deal, you say. You still think you have what it takes to be Santa. Well, according to those who play Santa every year, you’re going to need experience in a number of skills. Obvious skills like drama show up, but did you know that professional Santas also need skills in TV & video production or social media marketing? It’s starting to look like those professional Santas that you look down upon at malls are actually far more skilled and productive than you ever imagined.

    On a final note, LinkedIn took a look at where professional Santas live. As you might expect, the highest number of professional Santas reside in the United States, but there are Santa actors all over the world, including China and Africa.

    Here’s the full infographic:

    So, next time you see a mall Santa, don’t be disparaging. Instead, you might want to ask him for some tips on how to improve your own professional life. Besides, when else will you be able to get advice from somebody who can put “bearded” as a talent on LinkedIn?

    Image via LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn Rolls Out An Inbox Revamp

    LinkedIn Rolls Out An Inbox Revamp

    LinkedIn announced the roll-out of a new redesign to its inbox, which it says is one of the top five destinations on LinkedIn.

    Here’s a look:

    LinkedIn Inbox

    LinkedIn Inbox

    The changes are supposed to make it easier to navigate and to manage your connections. The design includes larger pictures, a centralized navigation on the left side and within each message. This, LinkedIn says, helps you quickly move between messages and invitations.

    There are also previews of each message to make browsing easier.

    LinkedIn’s Alexandre Lee shares some tips for effective LinkedIn messages here.

    The redesign will be rolling out over the course of the next few weeks in English. It will roll out to everyone else after the new year.

    Images: LinkedIn

  • “Responsible” Tops Linkedin’s 2013 Buzzwords

    “Responsible” Tops Linkedin’s 2013 Buzzwords

    As the largest social network for career networking, LinkedIn has access to a great wealth of data about how professionals want to be perceived. Though the word “creative” has consistently popped up on the site’s yearly top 10 overused buzzwords list, the terms LinkedIn members use to describe themselves seem anything but.

    This year’s top 10 overused LinkedIn buzzwords are no exception, though the new list does show that professionals now believe responsibility is a top trait.

    “Responsible” is this year’s most overused buzzword after entering the top 10 on last year’s list. “Creative,” which had held the top spot for two years in a row, has been knocked down to third place just behind “strategic.” Filling out the top 10 are “effective,” “patient,” “expert,” “organizational,” “driven,” “innovative,” and “analytical.”

    Not only is “Responsible” the most overused buzzword of the year, but it also tops the list of overused buzzwords for every English-speaking country surveyed by LinkedIn. “Strategic” also makes it into the top three for each country. This represents a shift toward a more practical personality-based skillset, rather than attempts to wow companies with claims of creativity or past success. U.S. profiles in particular account for an inordinate number of the uses of “patient” – a word that will likely gain popularity in the coming year if the growth of “responsible” is anything to go by.

    Whether or not employers really do want employees who can patiently craft creative, effective, and responsible strategies, LinkedIn suggests that prospective hires get a bit more creative with their profiles. If nothing else, a glimpse at a thesaurus could help them stand out enough for employers to give their profile a second look.

  • Internet Giants Urge U.S. To Reform Government Surveillance

    Internet Giants Urge U.S. To Reform Government Surveillance

    AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo have joined together to urge the U.S. government to reform government surveillance laws and practices.

    The companies have set up a website called Reform Government Surveillance, where they outline five principles, and offer commentary from the CEOs of each company (Brad Smith, General Counsel and EVP, Legal and Corporate Affairs speaks up for Microsoft, which is currently between CEOs).

    Principles discussed include limiting governments’ authority to collect users’ info, oversight and accountability, transparency about government demands, respecting the free flow of info, and avoiding conflicts among governments.

    “Reports about government surveillance have shown there is a real need for greater disclosure and new limits on how governments collect information,” says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “The US government should take this opportunity to lead this reform effort and make things right.”

    “The security of users’ data is critical, which is why we’ve invested so much in encryption and fight for transparency around government requests for information,” says Google CEO Larry Page. “This is undermined by the apparent wholesale collection of data, in secret and without independent oversight, by many governments around the world. It’s time for reform and we urge the US government to lead the way.”

    Google’s Transparency Report is available here. It was updated last month, showing that government requests for user information have doubled over the past three years.

    Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer says, “Protecting the privacy of our users is incredibly important to Yahoo. Recent revelations about government surveillance activities have shaken the trust of our users, and it is time for the United States government to act to restore the confidence of citizens around the world. Today we join our colleagues in the tech industry calling on the United States Congress to change surveillance laws in order to ensure transparency and accountability for government actions.”

    Like Facebook and Google, Yahoo has had its own share of privacy concerns from users in recent months. For example, the company implemented an email address recycling program, and new account holders have been getting sensitive emails meant for previous account holders. Yahoo has maintained that this has only happened to a small number of users.

    To its credit, the company recently announced that all Yahoo products will be encrypted by the end of Q1.

    The companies have put together an open letter to President Obama and Congress, which is included on the site. We’ve also included it below:

    Dear Mr. President and Members of Congress,

    We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.

    For our part, we are focused on keeping users’ data secure — deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized surveillance on our networks and by pushing back on government requests to ensure that they are legal and reasonable in scope.

    We urge the US to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight. To see the full set of principles we support, visit ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com

    Sincerely,

    AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo

    Will it make a difference?

    Image: Google ZeitgeistMinds (YouTube)

  • Millions Of Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter And LinkedIn Passwords Compromised

    Millions Of Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter And LinkedIn Passwords Compromised

    Two million user passwords from Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites were reportedly stolen and posted online.

    Daniel Chechik at Spider Labs posted about the findings, which is actually a follow-up to a June post about the Pony botnet controller. At the time, it was found that about 650,000 website credentials had been stolen from Facebook, Yahoo, Google and others.

    The new findings are as follows:

    ~1,580,000 website login credentials stolen

    ~320,000 email account credentials stolen

    ~41,000 FTP account credentials stolen

    ~3,000 Remote Desktop credentials stolen

    ~3,000 Secure Shell account credentials stolen

    The login credentials come mostly from those sites mentioned at the beginning of the article.

    Long story short, you might want to think about changing your password.

    Image: Facebook Developers

  • Socialbakers Launches Mobile Analytics App, Adds Instagram And LinkedIn Support

    Socialbakers Launches Mobile Analytics App, Adds Instagram And LinkedIn Support

    Socialbakers announced today at the Engage 2013 conference in New York that it is launching a mobile analytics app and support for Instagram and LinkedIn.

    The app, the company says, provides an “executive dashboard of key metrics for monitored Facebook profiles including top performing content, fans and followers, engagement rates and competitor analysis.”

    “The addition of Instagram and LinkedIn broadens its suite to help social marketers measure the effectiveness of their campaigns across a wide range of social channels,” a spokesperson tells WebProNews.

    Users will no doubt appreciate the mobile app. Remember when Google Analytics launched on mobile?

    Socialbakers’ app is debuting on iOS, and Android will follow shortly, the company says.

    “I am excited to announce strong expansion of our analytic suite today,” said CEO and co-founder Jan Rezab. “Extending the scope of social media data provided to our clients is our number one priority. We also want to enable our users to check high-level data on the go by bringing the executive reports app to mobile users.”

    “Instagram is a very visual space where people like to engage with brands,’ added co-founder Lukas Maixner. “With this we are enabling marketers with the analytic data they need to understand which content resonates best with their communities and how they can benchmark themselves against competitors. Now we provide insight of both followers and following, interactions, engagement rate and also top interacting profiles, similar to Facebook’s key influencers.”

    Instagram itself is rapidly expanding. It just launched on Windows Phone, its fourth major platform after iOS, Android and the web. Before the Windows Phone launch, it had grown to 150 million users.

    Image: Socialbakers
  • LinkedIn Lets Brands Showcase Their Products

    LinkedIn Lets Brands Showcase Their Products

    LinkedIn announced new “Showcase Pages,” for companies who want to show off specific brands and products, which users will be able to follow separately.

    Microsoft, for example, has one for Office. Adobe has one for Marketing Cloud. HP has one for Converged Infrastructure. You get the idea.

    LinkedIn Showcase Pages

    “Interacting with Showcase Pages is easy,” says LinkedIn’s Aviad Pinkovezky. “These pages are all about content, so by visiting a Showcase Page you can quickly get up to speed on the latest updates. Like any Company Page on LinkedIn, if you want to make sure you see future updates in your feed, just click the ‘Follow’ button.”

    “If you’re a Company Page administrator, you can easily create your company’s own Showcase Page,” adds Pinkovezky. “First, identify the business areas of your company that need a Showcase Page. Then go to the ‘Edit’ dropdown menu and select ‘Create a Showcase Page.’ Once created, you can start sharing content from your page. You will also be able to monitor the performance of your Showcase Page through our analytic tools.”

    Showcase Pages will be rolling out worldwide over the course of the next several days.

    Image: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn Partners With Online Education Sites To Let Users Display Accomplishments

    LinkedIn Partners With Online Education Sites To Let Users Display Accomplishments

    LinkedIn has partnered with a handful of online education companies to add accomplishments to users’ LinkedIn profiles.

    The company has launched a pilot program with Coursera, EdX, Lynda.com, Pearson, Skillsoft, Udacity and Udemy.

    When the user completes a course from one of these providers, they’ll get an email with a link that will let them save a certification or completed course to their profile.

    Linkedin

    “Your next career-defining opportunity might be just around the corner, and it’s more important than ever to ensure you’re putting your best professional foot forward at all times,” says LinkedIn’s Alexis Baird. “Your LinkedIn Profile is that 24/7 representation of your professional knowledge and achievements.”

    LinkedIn announced last month that it has surpassed 259 million users, and that members engaged at record levels. The more positive points of interest you can display about yourself the better. People are always looking at your profile (LinkedIn makes sure your’e aware of that when you visit it).

    It will be interesting to see what other sites join the program, and give users more opportunities to show off their skills.

  • LinkedIn Replaces LinkedIn Today With Pulse

    LinkedIn Replaces LinkedIn Today With Pulse

    LinkedIn announced today that it is replacing its social news product LinkedIn Today with LinkedIn Pulse, which is based on the Pulse news reader app that the company acquired earlier this year. The Pulse app itself is also getting updated.

    LinkedIn’s Ankit Gupta writes on the company blog, “Pulse and LinkedIn technology have been fully integrated to offer a more relevant news experience with content tailored to your professional interests both on the Pulse app and on LinkedIn.com. This is just the first step of many we will be taking to ensure you’re getting a consistent and seamless content experience that is tailored to you. Starting today, LinkedIn Pulse will become the main vehicle for our social news experience across mobile and desktop and will replace LinkedIn Today.”

    Richard Branson

    “In addition to a brand new visual refresh of the Pulse app, now social actions like commenting and liking on Pulse are possible for the first time and will sync with your LinkedIn.com experience,” Gupta adds. “Any channels you follow on LinkedIn will also automatically sync across your Pulse app experience. It also means that the professional news you’ve come to expect and rely on from LinkedIn just got better — infused with added discovery and navigation functionality as well as expanded publisher content.”

    The Pulse app is available for Android and IOS. You can access the web version here.

    LinkedIn paid $90 million for Pulse, and now we get to see why it wanted the app.

  • LinkedIn Q3 Earnings Released, Revenue Up 56%

    LinkedIn Q3 Earnings Released, Revenue Up 56%

    LinkedIn just put out its earnings report for the third quarter, beating Wall Street expectations. Revenue was up 56% year over year at $393 million for the quarter. The company posted a net loss of $3.4 million (compared to net income of $2.3 million for the same quarter last year). Non-GAAP net income was $46.8 million, compared to $25.1 million for the third quarter of 2012.

    Revenue from Talent Solutions products were $224.7 million (up 62% YoY) with revenue from Marketing Solutions products hitting $88.5 million (up 38% YoY) and revenue from Premium Subscriptions products at $79.8 million (up 61% YoY). That’s a 55%/25%/20% revenue split among these categories.

    U.S. revenue totaled $245.3 million, representing 62% of total revenue. International revenue was $147.7 million (38% of total revenue).

    CEO Jeff Weiner said, “Increased member growth and engagement helped drive strong financial results in the third quarter. We continue to deliver value to professionals through investment in core products and strategic initiatives such as mobile, students, and the professional publishing platform.”

    The company also announced that it has surpassed 250 million users.

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD), the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, with more than 259 million members, reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2013:

    • Revenue for the third quarter was $393.0 million, an increase of 56% compared to $252.0 million in the third quarter of 2012.
    • Net loss for the third quarter was $3.4 million, compared to net income of $2.3 million for the third quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter was $46.8 million, compared to $25.1 million for the third quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP measures exclude tax-affected stock-based compensation expense and tax-affected amortization of acquired intangible assets.
    • Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $92.8 million, or 24% of revenue, compared to $56.0 million for the third quarter of 2012, or 22% of revenue.
    • GAAP diluted EPS for the third quarter was $(0.03); Non-GAAP diluted EPS for the third quarter was $0.39.

    “Increased member growth and engagement helped drive strong financial results in the third quarter,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. “We continue to deliver value to professionals through investment in core products and strategic initiatives such as mobile, students, and the professional publishing platform.”

    Third Quarter Financial Details and Operating Summary

    • Talent Solutions: Revenue from Talent Solutions products totaled $224.7 million, an increase of 62% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Talent Solutions revenue represented 57% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013, compared to 55% in the third quarter of 2012.
    • Marketing Solutions: Revenue from Marketing Solutions products totaled $88.5 million, an increase of 38% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Marketing Solutions revenue represented 23% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013, compared to 25% in the third quarter of 2012.
    • Premium Subscriptions: Revenue from Premium Subscriptions products totaled $79.8 million, an increase of 61% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Premium Subscriptions represented 20% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013 and 2012.

    Revenue from the U.S. totaled $245.3 million, and represented 62% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013. Revenue from international markets totaled $147.7 million, and represented 38% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013.

    Revenue from the field sales channel totaled $227.6 million, and represented 58% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013. Revenue from the online, direct sales channel totaled $165.4 million, and represented 42% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2013.

    GAAP net loss for the third quarter was $3.4 million, compared to net income of $2.3 million for the third quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter was $46.8 million, compared to $25.1 million in the third quarter of 2012.

    Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $92.8 million, or 24% of revenue, compared to $56.0 million for the third quarter of 2012, or 22% of revenue.

    GAAP diluted EPS was $(0.03) for the third quarter based on 113.9 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding compared to $0.02 for the third quarter of 2012 based on 113.6 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.39 for the third quarter based on 119.2 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding compared to $0.22 for the third quarter of 2012 based on 113.6 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding.

    Also, LinkedIn closed a follow-on offering, selling a total of 6,188,340 shares of Class A common stock. In return, LinkedIn received total cash proceeds of $1,348.4 million, net of underwriting discounts, commissions, and other costs associated with this offering.

    “Strong execution in the third quarter across engineering, product, and monetization platforms yielded solid growth and record levels of adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow,” said Steve Sordello, LinkedIn CFO. “We continue to invest aggressively in our member experience and diverse revenue streams in order to realize the long-term potential of our vision.”

    For additional information, please see the “Selected Company Metrics and Financials” page on LinkedIn’s Investor Relations site.

    Third Quarter Highlights and Strategic Announcements

    In the third quarter of 2013:

    • LinkedIn membership surpassed 259 million members, as growth increased to 38% year-over-year, and members engaged at record levels across desktop and mobile devices. Strength was driven by investment in core products improving how members manage their identities, their networks, and consume and publish content.
    • LinkedIn launched University Pages, the first step in an initiative to make LinkedIn an indispensable resource for students. To date, over 1,500 University Pages have been created in more than 60 countries.
    • LinkedIn launched Sponsored Updates, its first mobile advertising product, to deliver relevant content to members from marketers in the LinkedIn desktop and mobile feed.

    Additionally, in October, LinkedIn launched several new mobile products, including a re-imagined iPad app; Intro for iPhone, transforming the mobile email experience; a new Pulse app to deliver relevant news and insights with LinkedIn integration; and Recruiter Mobile for customers of the flagship Talent Solutions Recruiter product.

    Business Outlook

    LinkedIn is providing guidance for the fourth quarter and full year of 2013:

    • Q4 2013 Guidance: Revenue is expected to range between $415 million and $420 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to range between $98 million and $100 million. The company expects depreciation and amortization in the range of $43 million and $45 million, and stock-based compensation in the range of $55 million and $57 million.
    • Full Year 2013 Guidance: Revenue is revised upwards to approximately $1.5 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is also revised upwards to approximately $364 million. The company expects depreciation and amortization of approximately $136 million, and stock-based compensation of approximately $193 million.

    Quarterly Conference Call

    LinkedIn will host a webcast/conference call to discuss its third quarter 2013 financial results and business outlook today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Jeff Weiner and Steve Sordello will host the webcast, which can be viewed on the investor relations section of the LinkedIn website at http://investors.linkedin.com/. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the company’s financial and operating results. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on the website.

    Upcoming Events

    Management will participate in upcoming financial Q&A discussions at industry events on November 5th and November 19th. LinkedIn will furnish a link to these events on its investor relations website, http://investors.linkedin.com/ for both the live and archived webcasts.

    About LinkedIn 

    Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. With more than 259 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet. The company has a diversified business model with revenue coming from Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions and Premium Subscriptions products. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, LinkedIn has offices across the globe.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    To supplement its consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, the company uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP diluted EPS (collectively the “non-GAAP financial measures”). The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The company believes that they provide useful information about operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making.

    The company excludes the following items from one or more of its non-GAAP measures:

    Stock-based compensation. The company excludes stock-based compensation because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. The company further believes this measure is useful to investors in that it allows for greater transparency to certain line items in its financial statements and facilitates comparisons to competitors’ operating results.

    Amortization of acquired intangible assets. The company excludes amortization of acquired intangible assets because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. In addition, excluding this item from various non-GAAP measures facilitates internal comparisons to historical operating results and comparisons to competitors’ operating results.

    Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments. The company adjusts non-GAAP net income by including the income tax effects of excluding stock-based compensation and the amortization of acquired intangible assets. The company believes that the inclusion of the income tax effects provides additional transparency to the overall or “after tax” effects of excluding these items from non-GAAP net income.

    Dilutive shares under the treasury stock method. During the third quarter of 2013, the company excluded certain potential common shares from its GAAP diluted shares because their effect would have been anti-dilutive. On a non-GAAP basis, these shares would have been dilutive. As a result, the company has included the impact of these shares in the calculation of its non-GAAP diluted net income per share under the treasury stock method.

    For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” table in this press release. This accompanying table has more details on the GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations between these financial measures. Additionally, the company has not reconciled adjusted EBITDA guidance to net income (loss) guidance because it does not provide guidance for either other income (expense), net, or provision for income taxes, which are reconciling items between net income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA. As items that impact net income (loss) are out of the company’s control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted, the company is unable to provide such guidance. Accordingly, a reconciliation to net income (loss) is not available without unreasonable effort.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release and the accompanying conference call contain forward-looking statements about our products, including our investments in products, technology and other key strategic areas, certain non-financial metrics, such as member growth and engagement, and our expected financial metrics such as revenue, adjusted EBITDA, depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation for the fourth quarter of 2013 and the full fiscal year 2013. The achievement of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements the company makes.

    The risks and uncertainties referred to above include – but are not limited to – risks associated with: our limited operating history in a new and unproven market; engagement of our members; the price volatility of our Class A common stock; general economic conditions; expectations regarding the return on our strategic investments; execution of our plans and strategies, including with respect to mobile products and features; security measures and the risk that they may not be sufficient to secure our member data adequately or that we are subject to attacks that degrade or deny the ability of members to access our solutions; expectations regarding our ability to timely and effectively scale and adapt existing technology and network infrastructure to ensure that our solutions are accessible at all times with short or no perceptible load times; our ability to maintain our rate of revenue growth and manage our expenses and investment plans; our ability to accurately track our key metrics internally; members and customers curtailing or ceasing to use our solutions; our core value of putting members first, which may conflict with the short-term interests of the business; privacy and changes in regulations in the United States, Europe or elsewhere, which could impact our ability to serve our members or curtail our monetization efforts; litigation and regulatory issues; increasing competition; our ability to manage our growth; our ability to recruit and retain our employees; the application of US and international tax laws on our tax structure and any changes to such tax laws; acquisitions we have made or may make in the future; and the dual class structure of our common stock.

    Further information on these and other factors that could affect the company’s financial results is included in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K that was filed for the year ended December 31, 2012, and additional information will also be set forth in our Form 10-Q that will be filed for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, which should be read in conjunction with these financial results. These documents are or will be available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Relations page of the company’s website at http://investors.linkedin.com/. All information provided in this release and in the attachments is as of October 29, 2013, and LinkedIn undertakes no duty to update this information.

    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
    September 30, December 31,
    2013 2012
    ASSETS
    CURRENT ASSETS:
    Cash and cash equivalents  $ 1,396,292  $ 270,408
    Short-term investments 875,993 479,141
    Accounts receivable, net 208,956 203,607
    Deferred commissions 28,507 30,232
    Prepaid expenses 33,831 14,344
    Other current assets 28,259 21,065
    Total current assets 2,571,838 1,018,797
    Property and equipment, net 336,656 186,677
    Goodwill 150,831 115,214
    Intangible assets, net 43,209 32,780
    Other assets 41,744 28,862
    TOTAL ASSETS  $ 3,144,278  $ 1,382,330
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
    CURRENT LIABILITIES:
    Accounts payable  $ 70,340  $ 53,559
    Accrued liabilities 139,898 104,077
    Deferred revenue 335,700 257,743
    Total current liabilities 545,938 415,379
    DEFERRED TAX LIABILITIES 15,861 27,717
    OTHER LONG TERM LIABILITIES 51,347 30,810
    Total liabilities 613,146 473,906
    COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
    STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:
    Class A and Class B common stock 12 11
    Additional paid-in capital 2,478,813 879,303
    Accumulated other comprehensive income 470 260
    Accumulated earnings 51,837 28,850
    Total stockholders’ equity 2,531,132 908,424
    TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY  $ 3,144,278  $ 1,382,330
    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (In thousands, except per share data)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
    September 30, September 30,
    2013 2012 2013 2012
    Net revenue  $ 392,960  $ 252,028  $ 1,081,326  $ 668,691
    Costs and expenses:
    Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below) 53,395 33,778 145,043 89,278
    Sales and marketing 133,172 83,168 364,865 224,792
    Product development 106,223 72,730 282,503 179,903
    General and administrative 61,767 33,194 160,776 89,022
    Depreciation and amortization 33,767 23,122 91,766 55,552
    Total costs and expenses 388,324 245,992 1,044,953 638,547
    Income from operations 4,636 6,036 36,373 30,144
    Other income (expense), net 156 672 (404) 228
    Income before income taxes 4,792 6,708 35,969 30,372
    Provision for income taxes 8,155 4,406 12,982 20,270
    Net income (loss) $ (3,363)  $ 2,302  $ 22,987  $ 10,102
    Net income (loss) per share of common stock:
    Basic $ (0.03)  $ 0.02  $ 0.21  $ 0.10
    Diluted $ (0.03)  $ 0.02  $ 0.20  $ 0.09
    Weighted-average shares used to compute net income (loss) per share:
    Basic 113,940 106,304 111,552 104,241
    Diluted 113,940 113,618 117,090 112,420
    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
    2013 2012 2013 2012
    OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
    Net income (loss) $ (3,363)  $ 2,302  $ 22,987  $ 10,102
    Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities:
    Depreciation and amortization 33,767 23,122 91,766 55,552
    Provision (benefit) for doubtful accounts and sales returns 568 145 3,521 (145)
    Stock-based compensation 54,445 26,798 136,738 58,747
    Excess income tax benefit from stock-based compensation (10,188) (2,888) (27,747) (13,255)
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
    Accounts receivable (7,719) (20,827) (7,991) (43,284)
    Deferred commissions 1,236 150 1,779 (1,923)
    Prepaid expenses and other assets 3,707 7,787 (14,139) (12,487)
    Accounts payable and other liabilities 49,591 30,474 70,406 57,290
    Income taxes, net (531) 3,486 (1,257) 17,970
    Deferred revenue 4,513 17,054 77,957 69,249
    Net cash provided by operating activities 126,026 87,603 354,020 197,816
    INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
    Purchases of property and equipment (83,158) (33,614) (220,625) (93,305)
    Purchases of investments (385,517) (83,685) (642,442) (263,062)
    Sales of investments 34,937 1,500 111,357 25,804
    Maturities of investments 83,652 6,247 128,779 66,973
    Payments for intangible assets and acquisitions, net of cash acquired (8,756) (9,055) (15,303) (56,955)
    Changes in deposits and restricted cash (1,355) (418) (4,898) (3,120)
    Net cash used in investing activities (360,197) (119,025) (643,132) (323,665)
    FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
    Proceeds from follow-on offering, net of offering costs 1,348,419 1,348,419
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock from employee stock options 7,408 12,205 27,146 36,096
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock from employee stock purchase plan 11,500 7,718
    Excess income tax benefit from stock-based compensation 10,188 2,888 27,747 13,255
    Other financing activities (2) (8) 811 (148)
    Net cash provided by financing activities 1,366,013 15,085 1,415,623 56,921
    EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES ON CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 1,780 814 (627) 733
    CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 1,133,622 (15,523) 1,125,884 (68,195)
    CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS—Beginning of period 262,670 286,376 270,408 339,048
    CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS—End of period  $ 1,396,292  $ 270,853  $ 1,396,292  $270,853
    SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES OF NONCASH INVESTING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
    Purchases of property and equipment recorded in accounts payable and accrued liabilities  $ 24,196  $ 13,481  $ 24,196  $ 13,481
    Offering costs not yet paid  $ 360 $ —  $ 360 $ —
    Vesting of early exercised stock options  $ 216  $ 405  $ 763  $ 3,035
    Issuance of Class A common stock and stock options for business combinations $ — $ —  $ 40,927  $ 72,461
    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE INFORMATION
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
    September 30, September 30,
    2013 2012 2013 2012
    Revenue by product:
    Talent Solutions  $ 224,676  $ 138,433  $ 614,052  $ 362,585
    Marketing Solutions 88,502 64,036 248,891 175,091
    Premium Subscriptions 79,782 49,559 218,383 131,015
    Total  $ 392,960  $ 252,028  $ 1,081,326  $ 668,691
    Revenue by geographic region:
    United States  $ 245,302  $ 162,377  $ 670,982  $ 430,479
    Other Americas (1) 27,027 17,134 78,060 44,190
    Total Americas 272,329 179,511 749,042 474,669
    EMEA (2) 90,087 54,530 249,935 147,432
    APAC (3) 30,544 17,987 82,349 46,590
    Total  $ 392,960  $ 252,028  $ 1,081,326  $ 668,691
    Revenue by channel:
    Field sales  $ 227,588  $ 143,176  $ 620,786  $ 374,095
    Online sales 165,372 108,852 460,540 294,596
    Total  $ 392,960  $ 252,028  $ 1,081,326  $ 668,691
    ______________
    (1) Canada, Latin America and South America
    (2) Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”)
    (3) Asia-Pacific (“APAC”)
    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
    (In thousands, except per share data)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
    September 30, September 30,
    2013 2012 2013 2012
    Non-GAAP net income and net income per share:
    GAAP net income (loss) $ (3,363)  $ 2,302  $ 22,987  $ 10,102
    Add back: stock-based compensation 54,445 26,798 136,738 58,747
    Add back: amortization of intangible assets 3,832 3,770 12,350 6,929
    Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments (8,120) (7,732) (28,422) (15,655)
    NON-GAAP NET INCOME  $ 46,794  $ 25,138  $ 143,653  $ 60,123
    GAAP diluted shares 113,940 113,618 117,090 112,420
    Add back: dilutive shares under the treasury stock method 5,248
    NON-GAAP DILUTED SHARES 119,188 113,618 117,090 112,420
    NON-GAAP DILUTED NET INCOME PER SHARE  $ 0.39  $ 0.22  $ 1.23  $ 0.53
     
    Adjusted EBITDA:
    Net income (loss) $ (3,363)  $ 2,302  $ 22,987  $ 10,102
    Provision for income taxes 8,155 4,406 12,982 20,270
    Other (income) expense, net (156) (672) 404 (228)
    Depreciation and amortization 33,767 23,122 91,766 55,552
    Stock-based compensation 54,445 26,798 136,738 58,747
    ADJUSTED EBITDA  $ 92,848  $ 55,956  $ 264,877  $ 144,443
    CONTACT: LinkedIn Corporate Communications Team

     

    Image: LinkedIn (Flickr)

  • Does LinkedIn Intro Give You ‘Shivers’ Or B2B Email Optimism?

    Does LinkedIn Intro Give You ‘Shivers’ Or B2B Email Optimism?

    LinkedIn launched a new email tool this week that is actually pretty innovative, and could have a significant impact on business to business email communications. Security experts are not sold on it, however, with one notable industry voice saying that from a security and privacy point of view, it “sends shivers down my spine.”

    The tool is called LinkedIn Intro, and essentially adds LinkedIn profile info to email messages you’d already be receiving with the goal of making the email more actionable, and making it seem more legit when it is.

    Do you see business benefits of LinkedIn Intro? Are you concerned about the privacy and/or security implications? Let us know in the comments.

    LinkedIn Intro And What It Does

    LinkedIn Intro is not a new email client. You’re not signing up and getting an email address. Rather, it’s a LinkedIn layer, which you can opt in to have added to your current email client. It supports Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and iCloud. It’s currently only available for iPhone, but I expect it will expand in time. Probably to support more email products as well.

    If you give LinkedIn Intro your phone number, you can set it up, so you can use it via your iPhone Mail app.

    Intro is the direct result of LinkedIn acquiring Rapportive last year. Rapportive co-founder Rahul Vohra announced the feature in a blog post earlier this week, saying, “The growth of mobile email is simply staggering. Four years ago, less than 4% of emails were read on mobile. Today, half of all emails are read on a mobile device! So we set ourselves the challenge: bring the power of LinkedIn, and the technology of Rapportive, straight to the Apple Mail app on your iPhone.”

    Here’s the difference between an email without Intro and one with it:

    LinkedIn Intro

    When you tap on the displayed LinkedIn info (“CEO at Crosswise, Past: Commona, Dynamics Inc.” in this example), you get more info from LinkedIn including location info, the site the user has connected to their LinkedIn profile, information about how you’re connected to that person, etc.

    LinkedIn Intro

    The idea is that seeing this kind of info in emails you receive, particularly from people you’re unfamiliar with, lends more credibility to the email. You’re more likely to not dismiss it as spam. It could also provide you more context and info for messages from people you are aware of.

    This is actually a pretty interesting mash-up of social media and email, and the kind of thing we can envision seeing more of from social networks going forward. Google already does something similar to an extent. In Gmail, if you get an email from someone with a Google profile, it will display their picture from that profile, along with where they work (if they’ve provided that info), and any Google+ circles you have them in. Google could easily expand this to include more info (like connections you have in common and more bio info), similar to what LinkedIn is doing, though it would still be strictly from Google’s own data in Google to Google email exchanges.

    While Google and certainly Facebook have tons of data on people that could be used in a similar way to what LinkedIn is doing, LinkedIn is in a unique position as the “professional” social network, making Intro a potentially very effective business to business tool.

    How LinkedIn Intro Works

    To LinkedIn’s credit, it managed to do something on the iPhone that most developers probably didn’t think could be done. Even some of Intro’s critics have acknowledged being impressed by how they did it.

    “Ask any iOS engineer: there is no API for extending the built-in mail app on the iPhone,” says Martin Kleppmnann from Rapportive and now a software engineer for LinkedIn. “If you wanted to build something like Rapportive, most people would tell you that it is impossible. Yet we figured it out.”

    In a blog post, he explains how LinkedIn was able to overcome four “impossibilities,” including: extending the iOS mail client, an interactive UI in email, dynamic content in email and easy installation.

    About Those “Shivers”

    Graham Cluley, the seasoned security industry veteran who recently shared his criticisms of Yahoo email address recycling program with us, and made the comment about Intro sending shivers down his spine, had this to say on his blog:

    Rather than your iPhone connecting directly to your email provider’s servers (Gmail, Yahoo, etc), it will be connecting via LinkedIn’s proxy server instead – which will act as a middle-man in your email communications.LinkedIn will then look at your email messages, and insert Intro information into each one.

    In case you’ve forgotten, LinkedIn is the company which lost the passwords of over six million users last year. LinkedIn also scooped up the contents of users’ iOS calendars, including sensitive information such as confidential meeting notes and call-in numbers – which they then transmitted in plain text, not encrypted.

    He goes on to mention the lawsuit the company is currently battling, which alleges that they hacked into email accounts to mine address books. LinkedIn calls such accusations false. More on that story here.

    The Wall Street Journal ran some additional comments from security experts expressing similar concerns.

    Suffice it to say, LinkedIn, like its social network peers, has had its fair share of the spotlight when it comes to privacy issues. There may be legitimate concerns when they’re essentially intercepting emails to “linkedinify” them.

    In an update to his blog post, Kleppmann did respond to such concerns. He listed five points for people to keep in mind:

    1. You have to opt-in and install Intro before you see LinkedIn profiles in any email.

    2. Usernames, passwords, OAuth tokens, and email contents are not permanently stored anywhere inside LinkedIn data centers. Instead, these are stored on your iPhone.

    3. Once you install Intro, a new Mail account is created on your iPhone. Only the email in this new Intro Mail account goes via LinkedIn; other Mail accounts are not affected in any way.

    4. All communication from the Mail app to the LinkedIn Intro servers is fully encrypted. Likewise, all communication from the LinkedIn Intro servers to your email provider (e.g. Gmail or Yahoo! Mail) is fully encrypted.

    5. Your emails are only accessed when the Mail app is retrieving emails from your email provider. LinkedIn servers automatically look up the “From” email address, so that Intro can then be inserted into the email.

    Basically whether or not you trust LinkedIn Intro is going to come down to whether or not you trust LinkedIn with your data. Either way, people who send emails to people who happen to be using Intro are going to have those routed through LinkedIn.

    Cluley says security is not in LinkedIn’s DNA. The company did at least take a step in the right direction earlier this year with the launch of two-step verification.

    LinkedIn For Business

    Regardless of the security implications of any of LinkedIn’s offerings, there is no denying that the company has had businesses in mind throughout 2013. The company, in its tenth year, has made a lot of improvements.

    LinkedIn has updated its jobs search engine, improved its recruiting tools in a variety of ways, added more insights and analytics, launched sponsored updates, and opened up company page APIs, to name a few.

    LinkedIn announced in its earnings report for Q2 that its membership reached 238 million, with growth accelerated to 37% year-over-year. Q3’s report is due out on Tuesday, so we’ll see how that has progressed over the last few months.

    Do you think LinkedIn has a legitimate business tool on its hands with LinkedIn Intro? Do you think critics like Cluley make valid points? Share your thoughts, questions or concerns about Intro in the comments.

    Images: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn Intros Fresh iPad-Optimized App

    LinkedIn Intros Fresh iPad-Optimized App

    LinkedIn unveiled a new iPad app today, rebuilding the previous app from the ground up for the tablet experience.

    The app has a dramatically different design with more of a focus on people, as in who is sharing what, connecting with who, changing jobs, etc.

    Liking, commenting, sharing, following and joining actions are now accessible directly from the feed, and you can easily tap on the icon next to a person or swipe to the right to connect with them. You can also tap on an image to expand it or play a video inline from the feed.

    “We know that you use LinkedIn for different reasons,” says LinkedIn’s David Breger in a blog post. “Some of you want to grow their network, others want to read Influencer content, and others are looking for jobs. So we have completely re-imagined the navigation to reflect this.”

    “Now at the top of every page you can access your personalized navigation via a simple tap on the LinkedIn icon or a swipe down from the top bar,” he adds. “The improved navigation takes advantage of the expanded real estate of the tablet and the icons are visual, offering quick access to the areas you visit the most.”

    The app also adds LInkedIn’s Influencer and Channels content as well as Jobs, with the ability to search for jobs, companies and groups.

    Linkedin for ipad

    LinkedIn iPad

    LinkedIn iPad

    The app is supported in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Turkish, and Korean.

    Apple, of course, unveiled its latest iPad models on Tuesday, and revealed that it has sold 170 iPads to date. There are over 475,000 apps specifically optimized for the iPad available in the app store.

    LinkedIn also introduced a new email tool called Intro today, which basically Linkedinifies your email. More on that here.

    Image: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn LinkedInifies Your Email With Intro

    LinkedIn LinkedInifies Your Email With Intro

    LinkedIn unveiled a new email-related product called Intro today, making use of last year’s acquisition of Rapportive. Basically what it does is show you information about people you receive emails from so you can get a better idea of who they are – right in your inbox.

    Right now it’s just for iPhone, and utilizes the iPhone’s Mail app.

    “The growth of mobile email is simply staggering,” says LinkedIn’s Rahul Vohra, who co-founded Rapportive. “Four years ago, less than 4% of emails were read on mobile. Today, half of all emails are read on a mobile device! So we set ourselves the challenge: bring the power of LinkedIn, and the technology of Rapportive, straight to the Apple Mail app on your iPhone.”

    This pretty clearly illustrates what Intro does:

    LinkedIn Intro

    LinkedIn Intro

    As Vohra explains, the info provided by Intro can be the difference between deciding whether you’re receiving spam or a legitimate email.

    The product supports Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and iCloud. Outlook.com is noticeably absent from the list, as is Android.

    You can enable Intro here by giving them your phone number.

  • LinkedIn Makes It Easier For Employers To Recruit Job Candidates Using Mobile Devices

    LinkedIn Makes It Easier For Employers To Recruit Job Candidates Using Mobile Devices

    LinkedIn has launched a couple of new products aimed at making it easier for employers to recruit new job candidates, specifically while on the go. They’ve expanded a couple of important recruiting tools to include mobile support, which should be pretty valuable for those seeking new hires.

    Work With Us and LinkedIn Recruiter are now available via mobile devices.

    Work with Us is basically an ad unit that lets companies showcase various positions with “Apply Now” buttons. They appear on your employees’ profiles like so:

    Work with Us

    According to LinkedIn, 33% of its members visit the network from their mobile devices, and 30% of job views on LinkedIn come from mobile while half of LinkedIn members who have applied via mobile for job posts have never applied from the desktop version. You can see why this feature going mobile is a pretty big deal.

    The Work With Us ads will appear on top of members’ profiles on mobile devices like this:

    Mobile work with us

    “Now whenever someone looks at the mobile profiles of your employees, they’ll see relevant jobs at your company, which makes it even easier for candidates to discover your jobs and helps extend the mobile footprint of your company’s talent brand,” says LinkedIn’s Parker Barrile.

    The feature is currently available.

    Obviously LinkedIn Recruiter is an important tool for those looking to recruit job candidates with LinkedIn. Now there’s finally a way to use it via an iPhone app. There’s no mention of an Android version, but it is available via the mobile web browser at linkedin.com/recruiter.

    “This new app puts the LinkedIn Recruiter features you love most in the palm of your hand,” says Barrile. “The end result: a more productive you and better interactions with both candidates and hiring managers. That’s because you can do everything from responding immediately to candidate InMails, to viewing all of our more than 238 million members’ full profiles, to getting hiring manager feedback on candidates – all while out and about.”

    These are just the latest moves by the company to make its services more useful to people from mobile devices. LinkedIn recently made job application functionality available to mobile users, for example.

    Images: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn App Gets an iOS 7 Update, Mobile Endorsements

    LinkedIn App Gets an iOS 7 Update, Mobile Endorsements

    LinkedIn has just launched updates to both their iOS and Android apps – but the iOS app is getting the biggest overhaul.

    Today, it’s finally LinkedIn’s turn to get dressed up for the iOS 7 party. The new app falls in line with iOS 7’s design changes, and LinkedIn says that it features “flatter, cleaner and more modern designs” like sharp edges and soft colors. Basically, it fits in with iOS 7’s look. Most major social apps (like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, reddit) have already updated their apps to fit in with Apple’s new operating system.

    Ok, here’s where Android users can start to listen. Both LinkedIn apps now feature endorsement capabilities. That means that you can both accept others’ endorsements of you on the go and endorse your contacts on the go.

    There’s also a new tutorial to help new users get the most out of the service.

    “For new members visiting LinkedIn from a mobile device, you will now be greeted with a step-by-step guide to help you take advantage of some of the essential tools LinkedIn has to offer. From building your network, to joining groups that matter to you, to following channels for professional news that keeps you up to date, our new guided experience will help you get the most out of LinkedIn,” says LinkedIn’s Duncan Osborn.

    And let’s not forget about Pulse, the news app that LinkedIn purchased earlier this year. It received its own iOS 7 refresh as well.

    Recently, LinkedIn launched a major redesign for groups, launched new university pages, and brought job applications to mobile.

    Image via LinkedIn, iTunes

  • LinkedIn Aims To Clear Up ‘False Accusations’

    LinkedIn Aims To Clear Up ‘False Accusations’

    Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed against LinkedIn, alleging that it breaks into users’ email accounts. The company says the suit is “without merit”, and that accusations are false.

    Main St. (part of TheStreet Network) reported on the suit on September 18th, saying that it was filed in San Jose Federal Court in the Northern District of California, and that it claims LinkedIn “harvests email addresses and sends multiple reminder emails, ostensibly on behalf of the user, advertising LinkedIn to non-members.”

    The report goes on:

    Contrary to reassurances on LinkedIn’s website that it will not send emails “without your permission,” the filing claims LinkedIn promotes its service by downloading email addresses from members’ external email accounts and repeatedly emailing the addresses requesting they join LinkedIn.

    To enhanced the effectiveness of this particular marketing campaign, the suit states that the endorsement emails contain the name and likeness of the existing users from whom Linkedln “surreptitiously” obtained the list of email addresses.

    LinkedIn took to its blog on Saturday to respond.

    “The lawsuit alleges that we ‘break into’ the email accounts of our members who choose to upload their email address books to LinkedIn,” writes LinkedIn’s Blake Lawit. “Quite simply, this is not true, and with so much misinformation out there, we wanted to clear up a few things for our members.”

    “We do not access your email account without your permission,” he continues. “Claims that we ‘hack’ or ‘break into’ members’ accounts are false. We never deceive you by ‘pretending to be you’ in order to access your email account. We never send messages or invitations to join LinkedIn on your behalf to anyone unless you have given us permission to do so.”

    Lawit notes that LinkedIn does let users share their email contacts so they can connect with others they know and trust.

    This all comes after LinkedIn released its bi-annual transparency report, and the company saying that it has been fighting to release the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests it receives. More on that here.

    LinkedIn privacy is an ongoing concern among some users. Here’s a related story from June:

    Image: LinkedIn (Flickr)