LinkedIn's Impressive Revenue Growth

2012 was a great year for LinkedIn. Backed by great results, the company avoided the turbulences that Facebook’s IPO disaster inflicted on many other internet companies. Analysts and investors appear to have little doubt about the future viability of LinkedIn’s business. Unlike many other internet companies, LinkedIn has no trouble converting its user growth into dollars. While others struggle to generate one decent revenue stream, LinkedIn has three ways of monetizing its service. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the company earned money from recruitment services, marketing solutions (mainly advertising) and subscriptions, accounting for 53, 27 and 20 percent of total revenue, respectively.

With net earnings of $11.5 million on total revenue of $304 million, LinkedIn reported another impressive quarter on February 8, putting the company on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue in 2013. By the end of 2012, LinkedIn had 202 million users, making it one of the largest social networking platforms behind Facebook and Twitter.