Mashable has a post about LinkedIn supposedly being valued at roughly $250 Million in their latest round of funding. LinkedIn is expected to generate $45 to $65 million in sales in 2007, and $100 million in 2008. They are also profitable and boast 8 million users. I think this seems like a reasonable valuation, and quite frankly seems even ridiculously cheap after hearing facebook buyout rumors in the $1 Billion range or even higher than that ($8 Billion!?!?). I’m not really sure what Facebook’s numbers look like, but I would imagine you would be hard pressed to find a social network with numbers that look as good as LinkedIn’s. They are really the only social network that have services the members themselves would actually pay for in addition to the standard advertising revenue model.
I am not really an active user of other social networks, although I am a member of Facebook and do find it a lot of fun, I see LinkedIn as the most useful. I believe that it sits nicely in a great space (business networking) surrounded by people who not only will find it incredibly powerful, but will be willing to pay to use it multiple ways. I’m a paying member which allows me to send mail to people I otherwise would not be able to contact, and to see people I otherwise would not be able to see…which is very powerful (see my past post on networking). The minimal amount they charge me to send messages to others in the network really has 2 benefits: 1.) it really cuts out spam 2.) it shows the receiver that the sender really values their attention, and will not waste their time. Finding people that you only used to bump into by either knowing the right person, or just luck now only takes a search and an email or phone call. If used properly, LinkedIn could really propel your business or your career to a whole different level…and that is why I think its revenue numbers will explode over the next 24 months and a $250 Million valuation is a steal for any current investors. This thing has more money making potential, in my opinion, than Facebook and surely is worth more than them.