LinkedIn connects with Q1 revenues of $861m as membership grows 19pc

29 Apr 2016

LinkedIn joined the bold few tech giants reporting stellar quarterly revenues as sales increased in Q1 by 35pc to $861m, beating analyst estimates.

The social networking site for professionals’ strong results are being bolstered by a surge in LinkedIn membership, which grew 19pc to 433m members.

Like Amazon and Facebook, the company has provided one of the few set of strong results in the current quarter, which was dominated by negative results from Apple, Microsoft, Intel and Google.

The market responded accordingly in overnight trading, with shares in LinkedIn up 5pc, a total reversal of fortunes compared with the last quarter where stock tumbled 40pc on a disappointing earnings report.

CEO Jeff Weiner attributed the Q1 results to growing mobile usage among its users.

Users make the professional connection

“LinkedIn delivered strong financial results and growth across our core product lines,” said Weiner. “As a result of our new mobile experience, members are increasing their activity on LinkedIn, helping drive strong levels of engagement across the platform.”

The company said that revenue from its Talent Solutions group increased 41pc year-over-year to $558m. Revenue from the company’s Marketing Solutions group grew 29pc to $154m while revenue from Premium Subscriptions increased 22pc year-over-year to $149m.

Adjusted EBITDA was $222m or 26pc of LinkedIn’s revenue. Looking ahead to Q2, LinkedIn forecast revenues of between $885m and $890m. “We are off to a good start in 2016 with strength in our core and emerging businesses,” said Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn.

“We continue to invest heavily in innovation and in our core products, while at the same time driving focus and scale to enable growth and leverage across the business.”

LinkedIn, which employs nearly 1,000 people in Dublin, last October appointed former Google Ireland chief John Herlihy to lead its European operations.

Smartphone image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com