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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2009 3:52 AM IST

By PTI

New Delhi: World’s largest professional networking website LinkedIn is scouting for partners in India as it aims to bag a lage mindshare for the brand in the country.

“We will be looking for a few strategic local players as partners to further stimulate our growth and solidify our brand in India,” LinkedIn director, International, Elisabeth O’Donnell told PTI.

Indian market posied to grow

“Later this year, we aim to proactively address the Indian market with marketing efforts aimed at increasing people’s understanding of LinkedIn,” she added.

The company, which has around 25 million subscribers globally, has estimated the Indian market at around 20 million users as of now. Of the 25 million subscribers, the Indian share is one million.

Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia, Google India managing director Shailesh Rao, Microsoft India managing director Neelam Dhawan, NASSCOM chairman Ganesh Natarajan are some of the high profile Indian users of LinkedIn.

Revenue model

Talking about the revenue generation model for LinkedIn, which has been valued at over $1 billion by some PEs, O’Donnell said the company makes money through online job listings, subscriptions, advertising, and corporate solutions among other sources.

The company has a monetization strategy in place to further their expansion plans and has about 325 employees worldwide catering to the huge subscriber base. She said the company expects to clock a revenue between $70-100 million this year.

“While we have over six million members in Europe, we have fewer than 10 people in our office in the region. So, we do not face the same high investment costs,” she added.

 
Gautam Said:


Interesting - the article at in the mint talks about the fact that with only 325 employees - LinkedIn is looking to clock revenues of between $70-$100mn this year. Even if you assumed that on average each employee earns about $100,000, and their other major costs are $10mn per year, and perhaps they spend another $10mn on marketing, throw in a few more $mn for 'other' expenses (these figures have no basis - its a baseless thought experiment) - we're talking about a cost base of $60mn all inc. If you assume that they land somewhere in the middle of their projections - $85mn in revenue - subtracting costs leaves a pre-tax profit of $25mn. If indeed it is valued at $1bn by some PE funds as the article describes, then that's a Price to Earnings multiple of 40 - not too high at all for a New Media company. Gautam Kshatriya gautam.kshatriya@moneyvidya.com http://www.moneyvidya.com/blog

Posted On 8/10/2008 3:37:10 PM
Harsha Said:


Dear PTI Team, Do they have any Indian office..? How to contact the team for strategic alliances..? Hope to get a reply from you. Thanks in advance

Posted On 8/10/2008 9:06:06 PM
media Said:


great story yaar! I always knew Linkedin would do somethin or other to tap d indian mkt! i would like to know more abt their subscription charges and all! Thanks PTI!!

Posted On 8/11/2008 12:18:25 AM
Sachin Said:


Well LinkedIn is the only professional networking website which is of some value. However in Social Networking there are multiple good options like MySpace, Orkut, FaceBook to name a few. I am all excited by their India plans. http://palewar.blogspot.com

Posted On 8/11/2008 12:14:36 PM
Brian Said:


India is a huge market and is only going to get bigger. The key to online professional networking in India will be to provide the best possible mobile networking experience. India is going to become a powerhouse in the online world. I see it everyday because I work for a business networking website, konnects.com, but the international audience really adds a lot to business networks. Brian http://www.konnects.com

Posted On 8/11/2008 9:52:50 PM
Amit Said:


It is infact a good oppurtuinty for indian corporates to cash. But is still dint understand their monetization strategy

Posted On 8/11/2008 10:08:40 PM
anu Said:


we are looking forward to have a possible tie-up with you

Posted On 10/13/2008 12:39:31 PM
ankur Said:


we would definately love to work with linkedin kindly some one suggest the addess of their indian office with contact details.

Posted On 10/19/2009 2:53:22 PM