LINKEDIN'S ROAD TO IPO
According to insiders, LinkedIn made the decision to file for an initial public offering in the fourth quarter of 2010, before news of the huge investment in Facebook by Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investor, stunned Wall Street earlier this week with plans to invest $500 million in Facebook, the privately held social networking giant. Goldman will use a so-called special purchase vehicle to raise and invest $1.5 billion in the company—a move that has drawn the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A spokesman for LinkedIn said,
"Anybody who is suggesting timing is a function of Facebook misses the point completely. LinkedIn made the decision well before the Facebook news. This has been in the works for months. We do not have a comment on speculation. An IPO is but one of the many tactics we could consider. Our main focus is on growing the business and adding long-term value to our members and our shareholders."
The dream of every technology startup CEO is to have a huge payday through an initial public offering, but the odds are stacked against them, especially since the Great Recession began and financial meltdown of September 2008
We will never really know why, how or when LinkedIn executives made the historic decision to file their IPO, but some of the answers are revealed if you look at the history of LinkedIn.
COMMENTARY: You can bet that LinkedIn executives knew about the Facebook deal because Reid Hoffman is a partner at Greylock Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm which just so happens to be a Facebook investor.
Click this link to read Part 1 - Inside The LinkedIn IPO: LinkedIn's Road To IPO
Click this link to read Part 3 - Inside The LinkedIn IPO: The IPO Filing
Courtesy of an article dated May 19, 2011 appearing in Mashable
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