I LinkedIn’s Landmarks

Reid Hoffman

Technology LinkedIn’s Landmarks

As professional network LinkedIn celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, with 810 million members globally as of 2021, we take a glimpse back at some of the key moments in its journey.

2002 Co-founders Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly and Jean-Luc Vaillant formulated their business idea from Hoffman’s living room in 2002, with a vision to create economic opportunity and connect the world’s professionals. LinkedIn was officially launched on May 5, 2003. By the end of its first month of operation, it was serving 4,500 subscribers. 2008 LinkedIn opened its first international office in London and launched Spanish and French versions of the website. It also launched Company Profiles, combining LinkedIn network information with a company’s description, key industry statistics, and targeted job listings. By 2010, registered members on the LinkedIn website had hit 90 million, served by 1,000 employees working from 10 offices across the world.

2011 LinkedIn was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 19, 2011, with an IPO price of $45 per share. By 2013, it had 225 million members, and was growing by over two members per second.

2005 With membership up to 3.3 million professionals, the platform launched its Premium service for recruiters and researchers, along with an InMail messaging mechanism, allowing business account holders to communicate with other users. By November 2005, subscriber numbers had surpassed 4.2 million, with LinkedIn introducing two more subscription offerings: Pro for recruiters and business account holders, and Personal Plus for job seekers and networkers.

2007 In

February, Hoffman stepped down as CEO and was replaced Dan Nye. Hoffman remained as chairman and president of products. He would later replace Nye and become CEO again in December 2008. 2015 With over 300 million subscribers worldwide, LinkedIn announced in April its acquisition of lynda.com, an online platform that helps professionals achieve their career aspirations by teaching them business, technology, and creative skills, for $1.5 billion. Lynda.com would later become LinkedIn Learning.

2016 In April, LinkedIn launched its first data center outside of the U.S. in Singapore to serve its 85 million members and clients across the Asia Pacific region. Two months later, Microsoft and LinkedIn announced that they had entered an agreement under which Microsoft would fully acquire LinkedIn for $196 per share—335.6% higher than its IPO share price—in an all-cash transaction, valuing the company at $26.2 billion. The acquisition was completed in December.

2018 In November, LinkedIn said it was closing on the acquisition of Glint, an employee engagement tool. In April 2019, LinkedIn and Glint jointly developed a competency marketplace to help job seekers gain the competencies they need according to actual job descriptions in their region.

2021 In December, almost two years after the outbreak of the global pandemic, LinkedIn unveiled its predictions for the future of work. These include that remote work will continue its upward trend, and that the length of time that employees spend with one employer will drop below four years as people re-evaluate work and a tightening labor market opens possibilities.