LinkedIn poised to make a huge acquisition
Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner speaks as he introduces US President Barack Obama during a Linkedin town hall meeting at the Computer History Museum Sept. 26, 2011, in Mountain View, Calif.
LinkedIn's performance since its intial public offering (IPO) has made investors very happy.
LinkedIn has almost a $13 billion market cap, and its shares are trading at nearly three times the opening day price of $45.
But in order to keep Wall Street on its side, LinkedIn needs to make a major acquisition sooner than later, Connie Loizos of peHUB reports.
Even though LinkedIn logged incredible growth between March 2011 and September 2012 — with its sales growing across all of its revenue streams (premium subscriptions, recruitment and advertising) — it needs to look for external growth opportunities in order to maintain that pace.
Some analysts have mixed opinions about what LinkedIn should do next.
Rick Summer, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told Loizos that he sees a day where LinkedIn looks "more like a software company, managing job candidates from their sourcing to managing the candidate inside the walls of a company."
With that in mind, Summer says that SilkRoad, a 10-year-old employee management software company, could be a good acquisition target.
Other analysts say LinkedIn should also consider acquiring these companies:
• Monster.com, an employment website
• Chinese recruitment site ChinaHR
• Viadeo, the world's second largest social network for professionals
• Question and answer site Quora
• DemandBase, a business-to-business marketing software company
• Business advertising startup Bizo
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