Business-based social networking site LinkedIn is set go public this year, according to a news report.
Reuters cited three separate sources have confirmed the move that will see LinkIn register an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2011.
In a separate report, The Wall Street Journal claims that the filing could come in the first quarter.
Speaking to Reuters, an unnamed analyst said: “Some of these companies want to go public because they want to beat Facebook and others out. If Facebook went public before Linkedin, do you think anyone would pay that much attention to Linkedin? You might want to surpass the beast.”
The plan has been in the works since well before the recent $500 million investment in Facebook by Goldman Sachs and Russia’s Digital Sky and Goldman’s commitment to raise another $1 billion for Facebook, The Journal reported.
The SEC is inquiring into the Goldman investment plan because of rules that limit the number of holders that a closely held company may have.
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While LinkedIn has done well as a pioneer in the provision of large-scale social network services for professionals it is these professionals that ‘make’ LinkedIn – fundamentally both the community and the service provider have developed a win-win relationship.
It would be great to see that acknowledged by the founders through a version of ‘friends & family’ that allowed the LinkedIn community to take a real stake in the business that they use on a daily basis. It is possible that the capital that could be raised by an initial preferential offering to the community of LinkedIn members would be a moment in history for venture capital financing in partnership with communities.