Devonshire & Douglas Capital Partners Reports Internet IPO's Are Coming Back: LinkedIn Announces IPO

Online, January 28, 2011 (Newswire.com) - After Facebook, the world's premiere social networking company recently raised $1.5 billion in a funding deal that led to a $50 billion valuation, LinkedIn has announced its intent to go public. Facebook has dominated much of the spotlight in recent months, and investors will surely be watching to see how LinkedIn fairs, if for no other reason but in anticipation of Facebook. Analysts at Devonshire & Douglas Capital Partners believe that following LinkedIn's IPO a whirlwind of Internet companies will follow suit. "2012 will likely be reminiscent of the dot com boom in the late nineties. I expect that by 2012 we will have announcements of Initial Public Offerings from at least a handful of companies including Facebook." - Alex Schmidt (Devonshire & Douglas Analyst)

The general public has latched on to the idea of Social Networking and are eager to invest in the internet sector. LinkedIn valued at $50 billion reported $10 million in profit over the first 9 months in 2010 which was a significant increase over the $3.4 million reported over the same time period in 2009. As the premiere "professional" social networking site LinkedIn has a very strong and valuable core user base that is much more valuable per capita than the much larger, but much more diverse user base of Facebook. LinkedIn currently generates revenue from advertisements, as well as hiring and job placement solutions. In 2010 3,900 companies, 69 of them fortune 500 companies, utilized LinkedIn's hiring solutions, and over 33,000 customers used their marketing solutions.

Though Facebook has claimed much of the spotlight, LinkedIn has carved out its own niche. Facebook developing similar professional networking tools looms as a threat to LinkedIn, but it is doubtful that even Facebook could dethrone them as the leader in this field. Devonshire & Douglas Analysts agree that LinkedIn has a great business model and as they continue to grow globally the company will likely be very successful. "We expect a successful IPO that raises significantly more than the current 'proposed maximum aggregate offering price' of $175 million." Schmidt also noted that he believes that a successful LinkedIn IPO will likely trigger a whirlwind of Internet IPO's that follow in 2012.