LinkedIn Agrees to Buy SlideShare, Beats on Earnings
LinkedIn reported quarterly earnings and revenue thatbeat Wall Street's expectations on Thursday.
After the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose 10percent in extended-hours trading. (Click here to get the latest quotes for LinkedIn.)
The company posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of 15cents per share on revenue of $189 million.
Net income rose to $5 million from $2.1 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 9 cents a share on $179 million in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
In its earnings report, the company forecast second-quarter revenue of between $210 million to $215 million. This beat Wall Street's estimates of $208 million. For the full fiscal year, LinkedIn expects to post revenue between $880 million and $900 million. Analysts had expected $877 million.
Earnings and revenue information were not available for the year-ago period when the company was privately held.
Ahead of its earnings release, LinkedIn announced plans to buy content-sharing firm SlideShare for $118.8 million in a combination of about 45 percent cash and approximately 55 percent stock.
SlideShare CEO Rashmi Sinha tweeted "Yes it's true" after the announcement.
After almost a year on the market, LinkedIn's shares remain well above their IPO price of $45.
LinkedIn's performance is watched closely by investors as an indication of whether its business model works. The Mountain View, Calif., company was one of the first prominent U.S. social networking sites to make its debut last May, whetting the appetites of those eagerly awaiting Facebook's impending IPO.
The company charges fees for analytical tools and expanded access to people who have posted profiles on its web site. These fees generate most of LinkedIn's revenue. The company makes the rest of its money from advertising.
