10-Q 1 d351638d10q.htm FORM 10-Q Form 10-Q
Table of Contents

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 10-Q

 

 

(Mark One)

    x     QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended June 30, 2012

or

 

    ¨     TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from          to         

Commission File Number: 001-35168

 

 

LinkedIn Corporation

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   47-0912023

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

2029 Stierlin Court

Mountain View, CA 94043

(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)

(650) 687-3600

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

 

Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer   ¨    Accelerated filer   ¨
Non-accelerated filer   x  (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)    Smaller reporting company   ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

As of July 20, 2012, there were 79,744,503 shares of the Registrant’s Class A common stock outstanding and 25,960,443 shares of the Registrant’s Class B common stock outstanding.

 

 

 


Table of Contents

LINKEDIN CORPORATION

FORM 10-Q

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

          Page No.  
  PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION   
Item 1.  

Financial Statements (Unaudited)

     3   
 

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011

     3   
 

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2012 and June 30, 2011

     4   
 

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2012 and June 30, 2011

     5   
 

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2012 and June  30, 2011

     6   
 

Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

     7   
Item 2.  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     18   
Item 3.  

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

     28   
Item 4.  

Controls and Procedures

     29   
  PART II—OTHER INFORMATION   
Item 1.  

Legal Proceedings

     29   
Item 1A.  

Risk Factors

     30   
Item 2.  

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

     46   
Item 5.  

Other Information

     47   
Item 6.  

Exhibits

     47   
Signatures      49   

 

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Table of Contents

Part I. Financial Information

Item 1. Financial Statements

LINKEDIN CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

     June 30,
2012
     December 31,
2011
 

ASSETS

     

CURRENT ASSETS:

     

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 286,376       $ 339,048   

Short-term investments

     330,761         238,456   

Accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $3,516 and $5,460 at June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively)

     136,536         111,372   

Deferred commissions

     15,715         13,594   

Prepaid expenses

     20,923         10,799   

Other current assets

     21,601         12,658   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total current assets

     811,912         725,927   

Property and equipment, net

     152,448         114,850   

Goodwill

     113,268         12,249   

Intangible assets, net

     33,456         8,095   

Other assets

     28,078         12,576   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

TOTAL ASSETS

   $ 1,139,162       $ 873,697   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

     

CURRENT LIABILITIES:

     

Accounts payable

   $ 44,195       $ 28,217   

Accrued liabilities

     63,662         58,644   

Deferred revenue

     191,993         139,798   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total current liabilities

     299,850         226,659   

DEFERRED TAX LIABILITIES

     40,612         18,551   

OTHER LONG TERM LIABILITIES

     15,525         3,508   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     355,987         248,718   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Note 10)

     

STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (Note 11):

     

Class A and Class B common stock

     11         10   

Additional paid-in capital

     767,995         617,629   

Accumulated other comprehensive income

     129         100   

Accumulated earnings

     15,040         7,240   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stockholders’ equity

     783,175         624,979   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

TOTAL LIABILITIES STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

   $ 1,139,162       $ 873,697   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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LINKEDIN CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In thousands, except per share data)

(Unaudited)

 

     Three Months Ended      Six Months Ended  
     June 30,      June 30,  
     2012     2011      2012     2011  

Net revenue

   $ 228,207      $ 121,040       $ 416,663      $ 214,972   

Costs and expenses:

         

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)

     30,367        18,403         55,500        35,186   

Sales and marketing

     75,740        36,019         141,624        65,380   

Product development

     60,080        30,414         107,173        55,149   

General and administrative

     30,974        16,673         55,828        30,287   

Depreciation and amortization

     17,548        9,602         32,430        17,761   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total costs and expenses

     214,709        111,111         392,555        203,763   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     13,498        9,929         24,108        11,209   

Other income (expense), net

     (668     11         (444     460   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before income taxes

     12,830        9,940         23,664        11,669   

Provision for income taxes

     10,019        5,427         15,864        5,078   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

   $ 2,811      $ 4,513       $ 7,800      $ 6,591   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income per share of common stock:

         

Basic

   $ 0.03      $ 0.07       $ 0.08      $ 0.12   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Diluted

   $ 0.03      $ 0.04       $ 0.07      $ 0.07   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used to compute net income per share:

         

Basic

     104,185        69,395         103,198        56,631   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Diluted

     112,317        103,129         111,813        100,131   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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LINKEDIN CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011      2012     2011  

Net income

   $ 2,811      $ 4,513       $ 7,800      $ 6,591   

Other comprehensive income (loss):

         

Change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments

     (14     10        110        10  

Less: reclassification adjustment for net gains included in net income

     (79     —           (81     —     
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total other comprehensive income (loss)

     (93     10        29        10  
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Comprehensive income

   $ 2,718      $ 4,523       $ 7,829      $ 6,601   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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LINKEDIN CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011  

OPERATING ACTIVITIES:

    

Net income

   $ 7,800      $ 6,591   

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:

    

Depreciation and amortization

     32,430        17,761   

Provision (benefit) for doubtful accounts and sales returns

     (290     1,176   

Stock-based compensation

     31,949        10,658   

Excess income tax benefit from the exercise of stock options

     (10,367     (48

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

    

Accounts receivable

     (22,457     (13,540

Deferred commissions

     (2,073     777   

Prepaid expenses and other assets

     (20,274     (5,801

Accounts payable and other liabilities

     26,816        6,507   

Income taxes, net

     14,484        4,005   

Deferred revenue

     52,195        34,459   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by operating activities

     110,213        62,545   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

INVESTING ACTIVITIES:

    

Purchases of property and equipment

     (59,691     (39,538

Purchases of investments

     (179,377     (27,514

Sales of investments

     24,304        8,254   

Maturities of investments

     60,726        —     

Payments for intangible assets and acquisitions, net of cash acquired

     (47,900     (1,720

Changes in deposits

     (2,702     (1,814
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash used in investing activities

     (204,640     (62,332
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

FINANCING ACTIVITIES:

    

Proceeds from initial public offering, net of offering costs

     —          249,640   

Proceeds from issuance of common stock

     23,891        4,651   

Proceeds from the issuance of common stock of the employee stock purchase plan

     7,718        —     

Proceeds from early exercise of employee stock options

     48        4,972   

Excess income tax benefit from the exercise of stock options

     10,367        48   

Repurchase of common stock

     (188     (7
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

     41,836        259,304   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES ON CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

     (81     386   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

     (52,672     259,903   

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS—Beginning of period

     339,048        92,951   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS—End of period

   $ 286,376      $ 352,854   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES OF NONCASH INVESTING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES:

    

Purchases of property and equipment recorded in accounts payable and accrued liabilities

   $ 17,402      $ 5,149   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Deferred offering costs not yet paid

   $ —        $ 780   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Vesting of early exercised stock options

   $ 2,630      $ 1,657   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Issuance of Class A common stock for business combinations

   $ 72,461      $ —     
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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LINKEDIN CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

 

1. Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

LinkedIn Corporation (together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”), a Delaware corporation, was incorporated on March 6, 2003. The Company operates an online professional network on the Internet through which the Company’s members are able to create, manage and share their professional identities online, build and engage with their professional networks, access shared knowledge and insights, and find business opportunities, enabling them to be more productive and successful. The Company believes it is the most extensive, accurate and accessible network focused on professionals.

 

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) regarding interim financial reporting. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in the financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. Therefore, these condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, filed on March 2, 2012.

The condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2011, included herein was derived from the audited financial statements as of that date, but does not include all disclosures including notes required by GAAP.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the interim periods, but are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be anticipated for the full year 2012 or any future period.

 

Principles of Consolidation

The condensed consolidated financial statements include the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated.

 

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. These estimates are based on information available as of the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements; therefore, actual results could differ from management’s estimates.

 

Significant Accounting Policies

There have been no material changes to the Company’s significant accounting policies as compared to the significant accounting policies described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, filed on March 2, 2012.

Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance

 

Comprehensive Income

In June 2011, the FASB issued new authoritative guidance on comprehensive income that eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of shareholders’ equity. Instead, the Company must report comprehensive income in either a single continuous statement of comprehensive income which contains two sections, net income and other comprehensive income, or in two separate but consecutive statements. In December 2011, the requirement regarding the presentation of reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive income was deferred indefinitely. The Company adopted this authoritative guidance in its interim period ended March 31, 2012.

 

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2. Fair Value Measurements

The Company measures assets and liabilities at fair value based on an expected exit price as defined by the authoritative guidance on fair value measurements, which represents the amount that would be received on the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability, as the case may be, in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value may be based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. The authoritative guidance on fair value measurements establishes a consistent framework for measuring fair value on either a recurring or nonrecurring basis whereby inputs, used in valuation techniques, are assigned a hierarchical level. The following are the hierarchical levels of inputs to measure fair value:

 

   

Level 1: Observable inputs that reflect quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets.

 

   

Level 2: Inputs reflect: quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active; quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the assets or liabilities; or inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data by correlation or other means.

 

   

Level 3: Unobservable inputs reflecting the Company’s assumptions incorporated in valuation techniques used to determine fair value. These assumptions are required to be consistent with market participant assumptions that are reasonably available.

The Company’s assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis, by level, within the fair value hierarchy as of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, are summarized as follows (in thousands):

 

     June 30, 2012      December 31, 2011  
     Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total  

Assets:

                       

Cash equivalents:

                       

Money market funds

   $ 188,086       $ —         $ —         $ 188,086       $ 277,463       $ —         $ —         $ 277,463   

Agency securities

     —           11,350         —           11,350         —           —           —           —     

U.S. treasury securities

     5,501         —           —           5,501         —           —           —           —     

Short-term investments:

                       

Agency securities

     —           311,071         —           311,071         —           221,131        —           221,131  

U.S. treasury securities

     19,690         —           —           19,690         17,325         —           —           17,325   

Other current assets:

                       

Foreign currency forward contracts

     —           463         —           463         —           190         —           190   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total assets

   $ 213,277       $ 322,884       $ —         $ 536,161       $ 294,788       $ 221,321       $ —         $ 516,109   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Accrued liabilities:

                       

Foreign currency forward contracts

   $ —         $ 324       $ —         $ 324       $ —         $ 183       $ —         $ 183   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total liabilities

   $ —         $ 324       $ —         $ 324       $ —         $ 183       $ —         $ 183   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

3. Acquisitions

Slideshare

On May 17, 2012, LinkedIn completed its acquisition of Slideshare, Inc. (“Slideshare”), a San Francisco, California-based privately held provider of a professional and educational content platform that allows users to upload documents to share ideas, conduct research, connect with others, and generate leads for their businesses. LinkedIn’s purchase price of $74.1 million for all the outstanding shares of capital stock of Slideshare consisted of approximately $32.2 million paid in cash consideration and 375,956 shares of LinkedIn Class A common stock. LinkedIn also issued 82,108 stock options and 14,146 restricted stock units (“RSUs”) related to assumed Slideshare equity awards. The fair value of the earned portion of assumed stock options and RSUs of $2.4 million is included in the purchase price, with the remaining fair value of $6.9 million resulting in post-acquisition compensation expense that will generally be recognized over the next two years.

The acquisition has been accounted for under the acquisition method and, accordingly, the total purchase price has been allocated to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and the liabilities assumed based on their respective fair values on the acquisition date. Slideshare’s results of operations have been included in the consolidated financial statements from the date

 

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of acquisition. To retain the services of certain former Slideshare employees, LinkedIn offered non-vested Class A common stock and cash bonuses that will be earned in equal semi-annual installments over the next two years. As these equity awards and payments are subject to post-acquisition employment, the Company is accounting for them as post-acquisition compensation expense. In connection with these post-acquisition arrangements, the Company issued 198,915 shares of non-vested Class A common stock with a total fair value of $20.9 million and could pay retention bonuses up to $17.0 million.

Other acquisitions

During the six months ended June 30, 2012, the Company completed three other acquisitions for total cash consideration of approximately $19.7 million, subject to the finalization of a working capital adjustment, and 297,515 shares of LinkedIn Class A common stock. As of June 30, 2012, $0.2 million remains to be paid in cash subject to the satisfaction of certain general representations and warranties. The total purchase price of these acquisitions, of which one was accounted for as a purchase of an asset and the others as purchases of businesses under the acquisition method, has been allocated to the tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired and the net liabilities assumed based on their respective fair values on the acquisition date.

The following table presents the purchase price allocations initially recorded in the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets on the respective acquisition dates (in thousands):

 

     Slideshare     Other
Acquisitions
    Total  

Net tangible assets

   $ 3,234      $ 790      $ 4,024   

Goodwill (1)

     62,286        38,733        101,019   

Intangible assets (2)

     12,800        15,721        28,521   

Deferred tax liability

     (4,235     (4,949     (9,184
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total purchase price consideration (3) 

   $ 74,085      $ 50,295      $ 124,380   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1) The goodwill represents the excess value over both tangible and intangible assets acquired. The goodwill in these transactions is primarily attributable to expected operational synergies, the assembled workforce, and the future development initiatives of the assembled workforce. None of the goodwill is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.
(2) Identifiable definite-lived intangible assets were comprised of developed technology of $21.8 million, trade name of $4.3 million, customer relationships of $1.2 million, registered userbase of $0.8 million and non-compete agreements of $0.4 million. The overall weighted-average life of the identifiable definite-lived intangible assets acquired in the purchase of the companies was 3.5 years, which will be amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives.
(3) Subject to adjustment based on (i) purchase price adjustment provisions, and (ii) indemnification obligations of the acquired company stockholders.

The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements include the operating results of all acquired businesses from the date of each acquisition. Pro forma results of operations for all of these acquisitions have not been presented as the financial impact to the Company’s consolidated financial statements, both individually and in aggregate, are not material.

 

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4. Cash and Investments

The following table presents cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     Amortized
Cost
     Gross
Unrealized
Gains
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
    Estimated
Fair Market
Value
 

June 30, 2012:

          

Cash

   $ 81,439       $ —         $ —        $ 81,439   

Cash equivalents:

          

Money market funds

     188,086         —           —          188,086   

Agency securities

     11,350         —           —          11,350   

U.S. treasury securities

     5,501         —           —          5,501   

Short-term investments:

          

Agency securities

     310,859         250         (38     311,071   

U.S. treasury securities

     19,689         3        (2 )     19,690   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments

   $ 616,924       $ 253       $ (40   $ 617,137   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

December 31, 2011:

          

Cash

   $ 61,585       $ —         $ —        $ 61,585   

Cash equivalents:

          

Money market funds

     277,463         —           —          277,463   

Short-term investments:

          

U.S. treasury securities

     17,314         11         —          17,325   

Agency securities

     221,039         100         (8     221,131   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments

   $ 577,401       $ 111       $ (8   $ 577,504   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

The following table presents available-for-sale investments by contractual maturity date (in thousands):

 

     Amortized
Cost
     Estimated
Fair Market
Value
 

Due in one year or less

   $ 106,139       $ 106,160   

Due after one year through two years

     224,409         224,601   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 330,548       $ 330,761   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

5. Property and Equipment

The following table presents the detail of property and equipment, net, for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     June 30,
2012
    December 31,
2011
 

Computer equipment

   $ 157,189      $ 125,955   

Software

     24,018        21,614   

Capitalized website and internal-use software

     32,503        24,531   

Furniture and fixtures

     13,558        8,028   

Leasehold improvements

     29,297        12,124   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total

     256,565        192,252   

Less accumulated depreciation

     (104,117     (77,402
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Property and equipment, net

   $ 152,448      $ 114,850   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

6. Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Goodwill

Goodwill is generally not deductible for tax purposes. The following table presents the goodwill activity for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

Goodwill—December 31, 2011

   $ 12,249   

2012 acquisitions

     101,019   
  

 

 

 

Goodwill—June 30, 2012

   $ 113,268   
  

 

 

 

 

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Other Intangible Assets

The following table presents the detail of other intangible assets for the periods presented (dollars in thousands):

     Gross
Carrying
Amount
     Accumulated
Amortization
    Net
Carrying
Amount
     Weighted-
Average
Remaining
Life
 

June 30, 2012:

          

Developed technology

   $ 28,428       $ (3,304   $ 25,124         3.6 years  

Trade name

     4,300         (120     4,180         2.9 years  

Non-compete agreements

     2,661         (1,134     1,527         1.5 years  

Customer relationships

     1,200         (20     1,180         4.9 years  

Other intangible assets

     4,687         (3,502     1,185         2.0 years  

In-process research & development (“IPR&D”)

     260         —          260         Indefinite  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

Total

   $ 41,536       $ (8,080   $ 33,456         3.4 years  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

December 31, 2011:

          

Developed technology

   $ 6,638       $ (1,692   $ 4,946         4.3 years   

Non-compete agreements

     2,230         (564     1,666         1.7 years   

Other intangible assets

     3,887         (2,664     1,223         0.8 years   

IPR&D

     260         —          260         Indefinite   
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

Total

   $ 13,015       $ (4,920   $ 8,095         3.2 years   
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

Amortization expense was $1.9 million and $0.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and $3.2 million and $1.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Estimated future amortization expense as of June 30, 2012, is as follows (in thousands):

2012 (remaining six months)

   $ 6,011   

2013

     9,671   

2014

     8,700   

2015

     6,027   

2016

     2,312   

Thereafter

     475   
  

 

 

 

Total

   $ 33,196   
  

 

 

 

 

7. Accrued Liabilities

The following table presents the detail of accrued liabilities for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     June 30,
2012
     December 31,
2011
 

Accrued vacation and employee-related expenses

   $ 27,243       $ 15,709   

Exercise of unvested stock options

     2,036         4,806   

Accrued incentives

     18,328         24,600   

Accrued sales tax and value-added taxes

     7,520         5,839   

Other accrued expenses

     8,535         7,690   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 63,662       $ 58,644   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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8. Other Income (Expense), Net

The following table presents the detail of other income (expense), net, for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
    Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011     2012     2011  

Interest income, net

   $ 233      $ 14      $ 435      $ 28   

Foreign currency exchange gains (losses), net (1)

     (954     (9     (932     521   

Other non-operating expense, net

     53        6        53        (89
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total other income (expense), net

   $ (668   $ 11      $ (444   $ 460   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1) Includes net realized and unrealized gains (losses) from foreign currency forward contracts of $1.5 million and $0.2 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, respectively. There were no gains (losses) related to foreign currency forward contracts for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011.

 

9. Net Income Per Share

Basic and diluted net income per common share is presented in conformity with the two-class method required for participating securities. Immediately prior to the consummation of the Company’s initial public offering of its Class A common stock (“IPO”) in May 2011, all outstanding shares of preferred stock and common stock were converted to Class B common stock. As a result, Class A and Class B common stock are the only outstanding equity in the Company. The rights of the holders of Class A and Class B common stock are identical, except with respect to voting and conversion. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share and each share of Class B common stock is entitled to ten votes per share. Shares of Class B common stock may be converted into Class A common stock at any time at the option of the stockholder, and are automatically converted upon sale or transfer to Class A common stock, subject to certain limited exceptions.

Basic net income per share is computed using the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net income per share is computed using the weighted-average number of common shares and, if dilutive, potential common shares outstanding during the period. The Company’s potential common shares consist of the incremental common shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options, and to a lesser extent, shares issuable upon the release of RSUs and purchases related to the 2011 Employee Stock Purchase Plan. The dilutive effect of these potential common shares is reflected in diluted earnings per share by application of the treasury stock method. The computation of the diluted net income per share of Class A common stock assumes the conversion of Class B common stock, while the diluted net income per share of Class B common stock does not assume the conversion of Class A common stock as Class A common stock is not convertible into Class B common stock.

The undistributed earnings are allocated based on the contractual participation rights of the Class A and Class B common shares as if the earnings for the year have been distributed. As the liquidation and dividend rights are identical, the undistributed earnings are allocated on a proportionate basis. Further, as the conversion of Class B common stock is assumed in the computation of the diluted net income per share of Class A common stock, the undistributed earnings are equal to net income for that computation.

 

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The following table presents the calculation of basic and diluted net income per share (in thousands, except per share data):

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012      2011      2012      2011  
     Class A      Class B      Class A      Class B      Class A      Class B      Class A      Class B  

Basic net income per share:

                       

Numerator:

                       

Allocation of distributed earnings

   $ 1,863       $ 948       $ 284       $ 4,229       $ 4,386       $ 3,414       $ 255       $ 6,336   

Denominator:

                       

Weighted-average common shares outstanding

     69,063         35,122         4,360         65,035         58,024         45,174         2,192         54,439   

Basic net income per share

   $ 0.03       $ 0.03       $ 0.07       $ 0.07       $ 0.08       $ 0.08       $ 0.12       $ 0.12   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Diluted net income per share:

                       

Numerator:

                       

Allocation of distributed earnings for basic computation

   $ 1,863       $ 948       $ 284       $ 4,229       $ 4,386       $ 3,414       $ 255       $ 6,336   

Reallocation of undistributed earnings as a result of conversion of Class B to Class A shares

     948         —           4,229         —           3,414         —           6,336         —     

Reallocation of undistributed earnings to Class B shares

     —           122         —           92         —           4         —           110   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Allocation of undistributed earnings

   $ 2,811       $ 1,070       $ 4,513       $ 4,321       $ 7,800       $ 3,418       $ 6,591       $ 6,446   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Denominator:

                       

Number of shares used in basic calculation

     69,063         35,122         4,360         65,035         58,024         45,174         2,192         54,439   

Weighted-average effect of dilutive securities

                       

Add:

                       

Conversion of preferred stock in connection with initial public offering

     —           —           —           23,576         —           —           —           34,550  

Conversion of Class B to Class A common shares outstanding

     35,122         —           88,611         —           45,174         —           88,989         —     

Employee stock options

     7,794         7,638         10,150         10,150         8,362         3,819         8,942         8,942   

RSUs and other dilutive securities

     338         —           8        —           253         —           8        —     
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Number of shares used in diluted calculation

     112,317         42,760         103,129         98,761         111,813         48,993         100,131         97,931   

Diluted net income per share

   $ 0.03       $ 0.03       $ 0.04       $ 0.04       $ 0.07       $ 0.07       $ 0.07       $ 0.07   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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The following weighted-average employee stock options were excluded from the calculation of diluted net income per share because their effect would have been anti-dilutive for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012      2011      2012      2011  

Employee stock options

     28         250         40         809   

RSUs

     —           21         62         11   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

     28         271         102         820   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

10. Commitments and Contingencies

Aggregate Future Lease Commitments

The Company leases its office facilities under operating lease agreements, the longest of which is expected to expire in 2023. The Company’s future minimum payments under non-cancelable operating leases for office facilities having initial terms in excess of one year as of June 30, 2012, are as follows (in thousands):

 

Year Ending December 31,

   Operating  Leases  

2012 (remaining six months)

   $ 9,336   

2013

     27,847   

2014

     27,394   

2015

     26,539   

2016

     26,261   

Thereafter

     123,136   
  

 

 

 

Total minimum lease payments

   $ 240,513   
  

 

 

 

Legal Proceedings

The Company is subject to legal proceedings and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, including, but not limited to, certain pending patent and privacy matters, including class action lawsuits, as well as inquiries, investigations, audits and other regulatory proceedings. Although occasional adverse decisions or settlements may occur, the Company does not believe that the final disposition of any of these matters will have a material effect on the business. Certain of these matters include speculative claims for substantial or indeterminate amounts of damages, and include claims for injunctive relief, and other regulatory matters could result in fines or penalties being assessed against us. The Company will record a liability when it believes that it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. The Company periodically evaluates developments in its legal matters that could affect the amount of liability that it has previously accrued, if any, and makes adjustments as appropriate. Significant judgment is required to determine both likelihood of there being, and the estimated amount of, a loss related to such matters, and the Company’s judgment may be incorrect. The outcome of any proceeding is not determinable in advance. Until the final resolution of any such matters that the Company may be required to accrue for, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of the amount accrued, and such amounts could be material.

 

11. Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

As of June 30, 2012, there were 79,175,185 shares and 26,108,717 shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, outstanding. As of December 31, 2011, there were 40,637,575 shares and 60,842,819 shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, outstanding.

 

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Table of Contents

Stock Option Activity

A summary of stock option activity for the six months ended June 30, 2012, is as follows:

 

            Weighted-Average
     Aggregate
 
     Options Outstanding      Remaining
Contractual Term
(in years)
     Intrinsic
Value
(in thousands)
 
     Number of
Shares
    Weighted-Average
Exercise Price
       

Outstanding—December 31, 2011

     14,784,701      $ 9.35         

Assumed options from acquisition

     82,108        9.46         

Granted

     3,710        92.02         

Exercised

     (3,123,035     7.66         

Canceled or expired

     (534,292     12.66         
  

 

 

         

Outstanding—June 30, 2012

     11,213,192      $ 9.70         7.53       $ 1,082,906   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Options vested and expected to vest as of June 30, 2012

     10,875,436      $ 9.43         7.50       $ 1,053,134   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Options vested and exercisable as of June 30, 2012

     4,837,440      $ 5.34         6.92       $ 488,235   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Aggregate intrinsic value represents the difference between the closing stock price of the Company’s Class A common stock and the exercise price of outstanding, in-the-money options. The Company’s closing stock price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) as of June 30, 2012 was $106.27. The total intrinsic value of options exercised was approximately $146.6 million and $18.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and $272.1 million and $26.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The weighted-average grant date fair value of options granted was $62.59 and $15.10 for the three months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and $62.00 and $12.99 for the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

RSU Activity

A summary of RSU activity for the six months ended June 30, 2012, is as follows:

 

     Number of
Shares
    Weighted-
Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
 

Unvested—December 31, 2011

     1,139,910      $ 76.04   

Granted

     622,227        98.18   

Assumed RSUs from acquisition

     14,146        104.95   

Vested

     (14,865     92.34   

Canceled or expired

     (55,910     78.43   
  

 

 

   

Unvested—June 30, 2012

     1,705,508      $ 84.31   
  

 

 

   

Stock-Based Compensation

The following table presents the effects of stock-based compensation related to stock-based awards to employees and nonemployees on the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations during the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
    Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011     2012     2011  

Cost of revenue

   $ 1,236      $ 312      $ 2,037      $ 495   

Sales and marketing

     4,327        2,105        7,195        3,203   

Product development

     10,572        2,888        16,461        4,491   

General and administrative

     3,188        1,510        6,256        2,469   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation

     19,323        6,815        31,949        10,658   

Tax benefit from stock-based compensation

     (3,762     (1,094     (6,603     (1,796
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation, net of tax effect

   $ 15,561      $ 5,721      $ 25,346      $ 8,862   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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Table of Contents

The vesting terms for certain employee options were modified or accelerated which resulted in $3.0 million of additional stock-based compensation expense in the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, respectively. The vesting terms for certain employee options were modified or accelerated which resulted in $0.5 million and $0.7 million of additional stock-based compensation expense in the three and six months ended June 30, 2011, respectively.

 

12. Income Taxes

The Company is subject to income tax in the United States as well as other tax jurisdictions in which it conducts business. Earnings from non-U.S. activities are subject to local country income tax. The Company does not provide for federal income taxes on the undistributed earnings of its foreign subsidiaries as such earnings are to be reinvested indefinitely.

The Company recorded income tax expense of $10.0 million and $5.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and $15.9 million and $5.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The tax provision and the effective tax rate increased in the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 compared to the same periods last year, primarily due to the increase in income before taxes, an increase in non-deductible acquisition-related expenses, an increase in development costs funded from international subsidiaries, and the discontinuation of the Federal Research and Experimentation credit. The Company has computed the provision for income taxes based on the actual year-to-date effective tax rate by applying the discrete method.

Factors that bear the most significant impact to the effective income tax rate include foreign losses for which a tax benefit has not been recognized, non-deductible acquisition related expenses, and the funding of US based development costs by certain international subsidiaries.

 

13. Information About Revenue and Geographic Areas

Revenue by geography is based on the shipping address of the customer. The following tables present the Company’s revenue by product line and geographic region for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012      2011      2012      2011  

Revenue by product:

           

Hiring Solutions

   $ 121,592       $ 58,620       $ 224,152       $ 104,953   

Marketing Solutions

     63,105         38,570         111,055         66,253   

Premium Subscriptions

     43,510         23,850         81,456         43,766   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 228,207       $ 121,040       $ 416,663       $ 214,972   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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Table of Contents
     Three Months Ended
June 30,
     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012      2011      2012      2011  

Revenue by geographic region:

           

United States

   $ 147,253       $ 82,739       $ 268,102       $ 147,859   

Other Americas (1)

     15,047         6,146         27,056         10,745   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total Americas

     162,300         88,885         295,158         158,604   

EMEA(2)

     50,057         25,859         92,902         45,590   

APAC (3)

     15,850         6,296         28,603         10,778   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 228,207       $ 121,040       $ 416,663       $ 214,972   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1) Canada, Latin America and South America
(2) Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”)
(3) Asia-Pacific (“APAC”)

During the first quarter of 2012, the Company expanded its disclosure of international revenue to provide further details of revenue by geographic region. The prior periods have been recast to conform to the current presentation.

No individual customer accounted for 10% or more of consolidated net revenue or accounts receivable for any of the periods presented.

 

14. Employee Benefit Plan

The Company has established a 401(k) tax-deferred savings plan covering all employees who satisfy certain eligibility requirements. The 401(k) plan allows each participant to defer up to 75% of their eligible compensation subject to applicable annual limits pursuant to the limits established by the Internal Revenue Service. Effective January 1, 2011, the Company has elected to match any contributions made by the employees, including executives, up to 1.5% of an employee’s total annual compensation up to the annual limits established by the Internal Revenue Service. In the six months ended June 30, 2012, matching contributions were $3.0 million.

 

15. Subsequent Events

In July 2012, the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors approved 742,925 RSUs for ongoing grants of Class A common stock under the 2011 Plan. The ongoing RSU grants generally vest over a four-year period with 6.25% vesting on August 15, 2012, and the remaining to vest 6.25% quarterly thereafter.

In July 2012, the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors approved 539,490 RSUs for grant of Class A common stock under the 2011 Plan to newly hired employees. The RSUs generally vest over a four-year period with 25% vesting at the end of one year and the remaining to vest quarterly thereafter.

 

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Table of Contents

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011 filed on March 2, 2012.

Overview

We are the world’s largest professional network on the Internet and currently have more than 175 million members in over 200 countries and territories. Through our proprietary platform, members are able to create, manage and share their professional identity online, build and engage with their professional network, access shared knowledge and insights, and find business opportunities, enabling them to be more productive and successful. We believe we are the most extensive, accurate and accessible network focused on professionals.

In the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, we achieved significant growth as compared to the same periods in 2011 as our network of registered members and member engagement continues to increase and we continue to benefit from our expanded product offerings and international expansion. Our net revenue was $228.2 million and $416.7 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, respectively, which represented an increase of 89% and 94%, respectively, as compared to the same periods in 2011. Our future growth will depend, in part, on our ability to continue to increase our member base and member engagement, which we believe will result in increased sales of our hiring solutions, marketing solutions and premium subscriptions to new and existing customers.

Our philosophy is to continue to invest for long-term growth and we expect to continue to invest heavily in our product development efforts to enable our members and customers to derive more value from our platform. In addition, we expect to continue to aggressively expand our field sales organization to market our solutions both in the United States and internationally. We also expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures to upgrade our technology and network infrastructure to improve the ability of our website to handle expected increases in usage and to enable the release of new features and solutions. To support these efforts, we expect to increase our workforce which will result in an increase of headcount related expenses, including stock-based compensation. As of June 30, 2012, we had 2,861 employees, which represented an increase of 89% compared to the same period last year.

Key Business Metrics

We regularly review a number of metrics, including the following key metrics, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions.

 

   

Number of Registered Members. We define the number of registered members in our network as the number of individual users who have created a member profile on our website as of the date of measurement. We believe the number of registered members is a key indicator of growth of our network and our ability to receive the benefits of the network effects resulting from such growth.

The following table presents the number of registered members as of the periods presented:

 

     June 30,      % Change  
     2012      2011     
     (in thousands)         

Number of registered members(1)

     173,945         115,808         50

 

(1) The number of registered members is higher than the number of actual members due to various factors. For more information, see “Risk Factors—The number of our registered members is higher than the number of actual members and a substantial majority of our page views are generated by a minority of our members.”

 

   

Unique Visitors. We define unique visitors as users who have visited our web properties at least once during a month regardless of whether they are a member, based on data provided by comScore, a leading provider of digital marketing intelligence. We view unique visitors as a key indicator of growth in our brand awareness among users and whether we are providing our members with useful products and features, thereby increasing member engagement.

 

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Table of Contents

The following table presents the average monthly number of unique visitors during the periods presented:

 

     Three Months Ended
June  30,
           Six Months Ended
June 30,
        
     2012      2011      % Change     2012      2011      % Change  
     (in millions)            (in millions)         

Unique visitors (1)

     114         82         39     108         78         38

 

(1) Excluding the impact of Slideshare, the number of unique visitors for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 was 106 million and 104 million, respectively. This information is based on data provided by comScore beginning June 1, 2012.

 

   

Page Views. We define page views as the number of pages on our web properties that users view during the measurement period based on data provided by comScore. Similar to unique visitors, we believe page views is a key indicator for gaining insight into whether we are increasing member engagement and whether our members are deriving value from our solutions.

The following table presents the number of page views during the periods presented:

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
           Six Months Ended
June 30,
        
     2012      2011      % Change     2012      2011      % Change  
     (in millions)            (in millions)         

Page Views (1)

     9,412         7,093         33     18,847         14,178         33

 

(1) Excluding the impact of Slideshare, the number of page views for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 was 9.3 million and 18.8 million, respectively. This information is based on data provided by comScore beginning June 1, 2012.

 

   

Number of LinkedIn Corporate Solutions Customers. We define the number of LinkedIn Corporate Solutions customers as the number of enterprises and professional organizations that we have under active contracts for this product as of the date of measurement. Our LinkedIn Corporate Solutions include LinkedIn Recruiter, Job Slots, LinkedIn Recruitment Media and LinkedIn Career Pages.

The following table presents the number of LinkedIn Corporate Solutions customers as of the periods presented:

 

     June 30,         
     2012      2011      % Change  
     (in thousands)         

LinkedIn Corporate Solutions customers

     12,053         6,072         99

 

   

Sales Channel Mix. Depending on the specific product, we sell our hiring and marketing solutions offline through our field sales organization or online on our website. The vast majority of our premium subscriptions are sold online on our website. Our field sales organization uses a direct sales force to solicit customers, agencies and resellers. This offline channel is characterized by a longer sales cycle where price can be negotiated, higher relative average selling prices, longer contract terms, higher selling expenses and a longer cash collection cycle compared to our online channel.

Our online sales channel allows members to purchase solutions directly on our website. Members can purchase premium subscriptions as well as certain lower priced products in our hiring and marketing solutions, such as job postings and self-service advertising. This channel is characterized by lower average selling prices and higher cancellations compared to our offline channel, lower selling costs due to our automated payments platform and a highly liquid collection cycle.

 

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The following table presents our net revenue by field sales and online sales:

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
    Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011     2012     2011  
     ($ in thousands)  

Field sales

   $ 129,448         57   $ 66,699         55   $ 230,919         55   $ 117,327         55

Online sales

     98,759         43     54,341         45     185,744         45     97,645         45
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 
   $ 228,207         100   $ 121,040         100   $ 416,663         100   $ 214,972         100
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

To provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results, we have disclosed adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure. The table below presents a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

We have included adjusted EBITDA in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short and long-term operational plans. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business. Additionally, adjusted EBITDA is a key financial measure used by the compensation committee of our board of directors in connection with the payment of bonuses to our executive officers. Accordingly, we believe that adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors.

Our use of adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

 

   

although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements;

 

   

adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;

 

   

adjusted EBITDA does not consider the potentially dilutive impact of equity-based compensation;

 

   

adjusted EBITDA does not reflect tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to us; and

 

   

other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, you should consider adjusted EBITDA alongside other financial performance measures, including various cash flow metrics, net income and our other GAAP results. The following table presents a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods indicated:

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
    Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012      2011     2012      2011  
     (in thousands)  

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA:

          

Net income

   $ 2,811       $ 4,513      $ 7,800       $ 6,591   

Provision for income taxes

     10,019         5,427        15,864         5,078   

Other (income) expense, net

     668         (11     444         (460

Depreciation and amortization

     17,548         9,602        32,430         17,761   

Stock-based compensation

     19,323         6,815        31,949         10,658   
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

   $ 50,369       $ 26,346      $ 88,487       $ 39,628   
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.

We believe that the assumptions and estimates associated with revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, stock-based compensation, the valuation of goodwill and intangible assets, website and internal-use software development costs, our office facility leases and income taxes have the greatest potential impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies and estimates.

There have been no material changes to the our critical accounting policies and estimates as compared to the critical accounting policies and estimates described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011 filed on March 2, 2012.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Comprehensive Income

In June 2011, the FASB issued new authoritative guidance on comprehensive income that eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of shareholders’ equity. Instead, we must report comprehensive income in either a single continuous statement of comprehensive income which contains two sections, net income and other comprehensive income, or in two separate but consecutive statements. In December 2011, the requirement regarding the presentation of reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive income was deferred indefinitely. We adopted this authoritative guidance in our interim period ended March 31, 2012.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our results of operations for the periods presented as a percentage of net revenue for those periods (certain items may not foot due to rounding). The period-to-period comparison of financial results is not necessarily indicative of future results.

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
    Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011     2012     2011  
     (As a percentage of revenue)  

Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:

        

Net revenue

     100     100     100     100
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Costs and expenses:

        

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)

     13        15        13        16   

Sales and marketing

     33        30        34        30   

Product development

     26        25        26        26   

General and administrative

     14        14        13        14   

Depreciation and amortization

     8        8        8        8   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total costs and expenses

     94        92        94        95   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     6        8        6        5   

Other income (expense), net

     (0     0        (0     0   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before income taxes

     6        8        6        5   

Provision for income taxes

     4        4        4        2   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

     1     4     2     3
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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Net Revenue

We generate revenue from hiring solutions, marketing solutions and premium subscriptions.

Hiring Solutions. Revenue from our hiring solutions is derived primarily from the sale of our LinkedIn Corporate Solutions and LinkedIn Jobs products. We recognize the net revenue from sales of LinkedIn Corporate Solutions ratably over the subscription period, which is typically 12 months and billed annually, quarterly or monthly. We also sell LinkedIn Jobs on our website to enterprises and professional organizations of all sizes. These jobs are generally posted for 30 days, and revenue from individual job postings is recognized over the same period.

Marketing Solutions. Revenue from our marketing solutions is derived primarily from fees we receive from marketers, principally advertising agencies and direct advertisers, for display and text ads on our website. We also provide a self-service advertising solution that allows marketers to directly create and place ads on prominent pages on our website. Revenue from display or text ads is generally recognized when the advertisement is displayed on our website.

Premium Subscriptions. Revenue from our premium subscriptions is derived primarily from online sales of our Business, Business Plus and Executive subscription products. We offer our members monthly or annual subscriptions. Revenue from our premium subscriptions is recognized ratably over the contract period, which is generally one to 12 months.

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
          Six Months Ended
June 30,
       
     2012     2011     % Change     2012     2011     % Change  
     ($ in thousands)           ($ in thousands)        

Revenue by product:

            

Hiring Solutions

   $ 121,592      $ 58,620        107   $ 224,152      $ 104,953        114

Marketing Solutions

     63,105        38,570        64     111,055        66,253        68

Premium Subscriptions

     43,510        23,850        82     81,456        43,766        86
  

 

 

   

 

 

     

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total

   $ 228,207      $ 121,040        89   $ 416,663      $ 214,972        94
  

 

 

   

 

 

     

 

 

   

 

 

   

Percentage of revenue by product:

            

Hiring Solutions

     53     48       54     49  

Marketing Solutions

     28     32       27     31  

Premium Subscriptions

     19     20       19     20  
  

 

 

   

 

 

     

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total

     100     100       100     100  
  

 

 

   

 

 

     

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total net revenue increased $107.2 million in the three months ended June 30, 2012 compared to the same period last year. Net revenue from our hiring solutions increased $63.0 million as a result of an overall increase in professional hiring demand and further market penetration of our LinkedIn Corporate Solutions product, as evidenced by the 99% increase in the

 

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number of LinkedIn Corporate Solutions customers as of June 30, 2012 compared to the same period last year. Net revenue from our marketing solutions increased $24.5 million due to the productivity of our expanded field sales organization and growth in our self-service advertising solutions, both of which are positively impacted by increases in the number of our registered members and page views on our website. Net revenue from our premium subscriptions increased $19.7 million compared to the same period last year, which was a result of an increase in the number of premium subscribers.

Total net revenue increased $201.7 million in the six months ended June 30, 2012 compared to the same period last year. Net revenue from our hiring solutions increased $119.2 million as a result of an overall increase in professional hiring demand and further market penetration of our LinkedIn Corporate Solutions product, as evidenced by the 99% increase in the number of LinkedIn Corporate Solutions customers as of June 30, 2012 compared to the same period last year. Net revenue from our marketing solutions increased $44.8 million due to the productivity of our expanded field sales organization and growth in our self-service advertising solutions, both of which are positively impacted by increases in the number of our registered members and page views on our website. Net revenue from our premium subscriptions increased $37.7 million compared to the same period last year, which was a result of an increase in the number of premium subscribers.

The following table presents our net revenue by geographic region:

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
           Six Months Ended
June 30,
        
     2012      2011      % Change     2012      2011      % Change  
     ($ in thousands)            ($ in thousands)         

Revenue by geographic region:

                

United States

   $ 147,253       $ 82,739         78   $ 268,102       $ 147,859         81

Other Americas (1)

     15,047         6,146         145     27,056         10,745         152
  

 

 

    

 

 

      

 

 

    

 

 

    

Total Americas

     162,300         88,885         83     295,158         158,604         86

EMEA (2)

     50,057         25,859         94     92,902         45,590         104

APAC (3)

     15,850         6,296         152     28,603         10,778         165
  

 

 

    

 

 

      

 

 

    

 

 

    

Total

   $ 228,207       $ 121,040         89   $ 416,663       $ 214,972         94
  

 

 

    

 

 

      

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

(1) Canada, Latin America and South America
(2) Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”)
(3) Asia-Pacific (“APAC”)

International revenue increased $42.7 million and $81.4 million in the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. In addition, international revenue represented 35% and 36% of total revenue in the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, respectively, compared to 32% and 31% of total revenue as compared to the same periods last year. The increases in international revenue are primarily due to the expansion of our international field sales organization and our site localization efforts. As of June 30, 2012, we operated our site in seventeen local languages, and continued our expansion outside of the United States in offices across North America, as well as throughout Europe, Asia and Australia. We expect international revenue to increase on an absolute basis and as a percentage of revenue in 2012 as we continue to focus on making our platform available in more languages and further developing our brand across various international geographies.

Cost of Revenue

Our cost of revenue primarily consists of web hosting costs related to operating our website as well as salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation for our production operations, customer support, infrastructure and advertising operations teams. Credit card processing fees, direct costs related to our research products, certain uncollected valued added taxes, or VAT, and sales taxes, allocated facilities costs, costs related to solutions offered to our customers in our production environment, and other supporting overhead costs are also included in cost of revenue. Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011, we began to pass through VAT and sales tax to our customers on all our products subject to taxation. We currently expect cost of revenue to increase on an absolute basis, but to decrease as a percentage of revenue in the near term as we continue to pass through VAT and sales tax to our customers.

 

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     Three Months Ended
June 30,
          Six Months Ended
June 30,
       
     2012     2011     % Change     2012     2011     % Change  
     ($ in thousands)           ($ in thousands)        

Cost of revenue

   $ 30,367      $ 18,403        65   $ 55,500      $ 35,186        58

Percentage of net revenue

     13     15       13     16  

Headcount (at period end):

     411        206        100     411        206        100

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, cost of revenue increased $12.0 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to increases in headcount related expenses of $6.5 million and web hosting service expenses of $4.5 million, facility and related costs of $1.3 million and direct costs of $1.1 million. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in taxes of $1.5 million as we continue to pass through VAT and sales tax to our customers.

In the six months ended June 30, 2012, cost of revenue increased $20.3 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to increases in headcount related expenses of $11.2 million, web hosting service expenses of $6.4 million, direct costs of $2.2 million, facility and benefit allocations of $2.1 million and facilities and related costs of $2.0 million. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in taxes of $3.9 million as we continue to pass through VAT and sales tax to our customers.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing expenses primarily consist of salaries, benefits, stock-based compensation, travel expense and incentive compensation for our sales and marketing employees. In addition, sales and marketing expenses include customer acquisition marketing, branding, advertising and public relations costs, as well as allocated facilities and other supporting overhead costs. We plan to continue to invest heavily in sales and marketing to expand our global footprint, grow our current customer accounts and continue building brand awareness. In the near term and consistent with our investment philosophy for 2012, we expect sales and marketing expenses to increase and be our largest expense on an absolute basis.

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
          Six Months Ended
June 30,
       
     2012     2011     % Change     2012     2011     % Change  
     ($ in thousands)           ($ in thousands)        

Sales and marketing

   $ 75,740      $ 36,019        110   $ 141,624      $ 65,380        117

Percentage of net revenue

     33     30       34     30  

Headcount (at period end):

     1,223        590        107     1,223        590        107

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, sales and marketing expenses increased $39.7 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in headcount related expenses of $27.2 million as we expanded our field sales organization. We also experienced increases in facility and employee benefit allocations of $7.7 million, marketing and public relations expenses of $3.3 million and consulting services of $1.3 million.

In the six months ended June 30, 2012, sales and marketing expenses increased $76.2 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in headcount related expenses of $53.4 million as we expanded our field sales organization. We also experienced increases in facility and employee benefit allocations of $13.7 million, marketing and public relations expenses of $4.6 million and consulting services of $4.0 million.

Product Development

Our product development expenses primarily consist of salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation for our engineers, product managers and developers. In addition, product development expenses include outside services and consulting, as well as allocated facilities and other supporting overhead costs. We believe that continued investment in features, software development tools and code modification is important to attaining our strategic objectives. Consistent with our investment philosophy for 2012, we expect product development expense to increase on an absolute basis in the near term.

 

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Table of Contents
     Three Months Ended
June 30,
          Six Months Ended
June 30,
       
     2012     2011     % Change     2012     2011     % Change  
     ($ in thousands)           ($ in thousands)        

Product development

   $ 60,080      $ 30,414        98   $ 107,173      $ 55,149        94

Percentage of net revenue

     26     25       26     26  

Headcount (at period end):

     837        497        68     837        497        68

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, product development expenses increased $29.7 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in headcount related expenses of $20.0 million as a result of our focus on developing new features and products to encourage member growth and engagement. We also experienced increases in facility and employee benefit allocations of $7.5 million as a result of headcount growth and consulting services of $1.8 million.

In the six months ended June 30, 2012, product development expenses increased $52.0 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in headcount related expenses of $35.5 million as a result of our focus on developing new features and products to encourage member growth and engagement. We also experienced increases in facility and employee benefit allocations of $11.3 million as a result of headcount growth, consulting services of $3.6 million and hosting and other of $1.3 million.

General and Administrative

Our general and administrative expenses primarily consist of salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation for our executive, finance, legal, information technology, human resources and other administrative employees. In addition, general and administrative expenses include outside consulting, legal and accounting services, and facilities and other supporting overhead costs not allocated to other departments. We expect that our general and administrative expenses will increase on an absolute basis in the near term as we continue to expand our business and incur additional expenses associated with being a publicly traded company.

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
          Six Months Ended
June 30,
       
     2012     2011     % Change     2012     2011     % Change  
     ($ in thousands)           ($ in thousands)        

General and administrative

   $ 30,974      $ 16,673        86   $ 55,828      $ 30,287        84

Percentage of net revenue

     14     14       13     14  

Headcount (at period end):

     390        222        76     390        222        76

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, general and administrative expenses increased $14.3 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily a result of an increase in headcount related expenses of $14.0 million to support our overall growth. We also experienced increases in facilities and related costs of $11.1 million as we continue to expand our office space due to headcount growth and consulting services and legal expenses of $5.2 million. These increases were partially offset by facility and employee benefit allocations of $15.6 million.

In the six months ended June 30, 2012, general and administrative expenses increased $25.5 million compared to the same period last year. The increase was primarily a result of an increase in headcount related expenses of $27.2 million to support our overall growth. We also experienced increases in facilities and related costs of $17.5 million as we continue to expand our office space due to headcount growth and consulting services and legal expenses of $7.8 million. These increases were partially offset by facility and employee benefit allocations of $27.1 million.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expenses primarily consist of depreciation on computer equipment, software, leasehold improvements, capitalized software development costs and amortization of purchased intangibles. We expect that depreciation and amortization expenses will increase on an absolute basis as we continue to expand our technology infrastructure.

 

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Table of Contents
     Three Months Ended
June 30,
          Six Months Ended
June 30,
       
     2012     2011     % Change     2012     2011     % Change  
     ($ in thousands)           ($ in thousands)        

Depreciation and amortization

   $ 17,548      $ 9,602        83   $ 32,430      $ 17,761        83

Percentage of net revenue

     8     8       8     8  

In the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, depreciation and amortization expenses increased $7.9 million and $14.7 million, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. The increase was primarily the result of our continued investment in expanding our technology infrastructure in order to support continued growth in our member base.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net consists primarily of the interest income earned on our cash and cash equivalents, investments, and foreign exchange gains and losses.

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
    Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011     2012     2011  
     ($ in thousands)     ($ in thousands)  

Interest income

   $ 233      $ 14      $ 435      $ 28   

Foreign currency exchange gains (losses), net

     (954     (9     (932     521   

Other non-operating income (expense), net

     53        6        53        (89
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total other income (expense), net

   $ (668   $ 11      $ (444   $ 460   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

In the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, other income (expense), net decreased $0.7 million and $0.9 million, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. Interest income increased compared to the same periods last year as a result of interest earned on higher investment balances. Foreign currency exchange gains (losses), net decreased due to realized and unrealized losses on foreign currency transactions compared to same periods last year. In December 2011, we began to hedge risks associated with foreign currency transactions to minimize the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates on earnings. Hedging strategies that we have implemented or may implement to mitigate this risk may not eliminate our exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations.

Provision for Income Taxes

Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state income taxes in the United States and income taxes in certain foreign jurisdictions.

 

     Three Months Ended
June 30,
           Six Months Ended
June 30,
        
     2012      2011      % Change     2012      2011      % Change  
     ($ in thousands)            ($ in thousands)         

Provision for income taxes

   $ 10,019       $ 5,427         85   $ 15,864       $ 5,078         212

In the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, income tax expense increased $4.6 million and $10.8 million, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. The increase in income tax expense reflects the increase in income before taxes and an increase to the effective tax rate compared to the same periods last year. The effective tax rates as of the three months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011 were 78% and 55%, respectively. The effective tax rates as of the six months

 

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Table of Contents

ended June 30, 2012 and 2011 were 67% and 44%, respectively. The increases in year-over-year effective tax rates were due primarily to an increase in non-deductible acquisition-related expenses, an increase in development costs funded from international subsidiaries, and the discontinuation of the Federal Research and Experimentation credit.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
     2012     2011  
     (in thousands)  

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Data:

    

Purchases of property and equipment

   $ 59,691      $ 39,538   

Depreciation and amortization

     32,430        17,761   

Cash flows provided by operating activities

   $ 110,213      $ 62,545   

Cash flows used in investing activities

     (204,640     (62,332

Cash flows provided by financing activities

     41,836        259,304   

As of June 30, 2012, we had cash and cash equivalents of $286.4 million and short-term investments of $330.8 million. Our cash equivalents and short-term investments are comprised primarily of money market funds, U.S. agency obligations and U.S. treasury. As of June 30, 2012, the amount of cash and cash equivalents held by foreign subsidiaries was $74.0 million. If these funds are needed for our domestic operations, we would be required to accrue and pay U.S. taxes to repatriate these funds. However, our intent is to permanently reinvest these funds outside the U.S. and our current plans do not demonstrate a need to repatriate them to fund our domestic operations. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents and short-term investment balances, together with cash generated from operations, will be sufficient to meet our working capital expenditure requirements for at least the next 12 months.

Operating Activities

Operating activities provided $110.2 million of cash in the six months ended June 30, 2012, primarily resulting from our improved operating performance. The cash flow from operating activities primarily resulted from changes in our operating assets and liabilities, with deferred revenue increasing $52.2 million and accounts payable and other liabilities increasing $26.8 million, partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $22.5 million and an increase in prepaid expenses and other assets of $20.3 million. The increases in our deferred revenue and accounts receivable were primarily due to increases in transaction volumes in the six months ended June 30, 2012. We had net income in the six months ended June 30, 2012 of $7.8 million, which included non-cash depreciation and amortization of $32.4 million and non-cash stock-based compensation of $31.9 million.

Operating activities provided $62.5 million of cash in the six months ended June 30, 2011, primarily resulting from our improved operating performance. The cash flow from operating activities primarily resulted from changes in our operating assets and liabilities, with deferred revenue increasing $34.5 million, partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $13.6 million. The increase in our deferred revenue was primarily due to our revenue growth in the six months ended June 30, 2011. We had net income in the six months ended June 30, 2011 of $6.6 million, which included non-cash depreciation and amortization of $17.8 million and non-cash stock-based compensation of $10.7 million

Investing Activities

Our primary investing activities have consisted of purchases of investments, purchases of property and equipment specifically related to the build out of our data centers, as well as payments for intangible assets and acquisitions. We also continued to invest in technology hardware to support our growth, software to support website functionality development, website operations and our corporate infrastructure. Purchases of property and equipment may vary from period to period due to the timing of the expansion of our operations and website and internal-use software development. We expect to continue to invest in property and equipment and development of software for the remainder of 2012 and thereafter.

In the six months ended June 30, 2012, we had net purchases of investments of $94.3 million and made payments for intangible assets and acquisitions, net of cash acquired, of $47.9 million. In the six months ended June 30, 2011, we acquired a company for $1.7 million, net of cash acquired.

 

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Financing Activities

In the six months ended June 30, 2012, our financing activities consisted primarily of net proceeds from the issuance of common stock from employee option exercises and the excess tax benefit from the exercise of stock options. In the six months ended June 30, 2011, our financing activities consisted primarily of net proceeds from our IPO, net of offering costs, from the issuance of common stock from employee option exercises and preferred stock partially offset by the repurchase of unvested common stock.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have any off balance sheet arrangements as of June 30, 2012.

Contractual Obligations

We lease our facilities in Mountain View, California under operating leases that we expect to expire in 2023. We lease other facilities around the world, the longest of which expires in 2023. We have several material long-term purchase obligations outstanding with third parties. We do not have any debt or material capital lease obligations. As of June 30, 2012, the following table summarizes our contractual obligations and the effect such obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flow in future periods:

 

     Payments Due by Period  
     Total      Less Than
1 Year
     1 - 3
Years
     3 - 5
Years
     More Than
5 Years
 
     (in thousands)  

Operating lease obligations

   $ 240,513       $ 22,766       $ 55,179       $ 52,207       $ 110,361   

Purchase obligations

   $ 82,897       $ 39,943       $ 39,278       $ 3,676       $ —     

The contractual commitment amounts in the table above are associated with agreements that are enforceable and legally binding. Obligations under contracts that we can cancel without a significant penalty are not included in the table above.

Contingent obligations arising from unrecognized tax benefits are not included in the contractual obligations because it is expected that the unrecognized benefits would result in an insignificant amount of cash payments.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk

We have operations both within the United States and internationally, and we are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business. These risks include primarily interest rate, foreign exchange risks and inflation.

Interest Rate Fluctuation Risk

We had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $617.1 million at June 30, 2012. This amount was invested primarily in money market funds, government securities and treasury securities with credit ratings of at least single A or better. The cash, cash equivalents and short-term marketable securities are held for working capital purposes. Our investment policy and strategy is focused on the preservation of capital and supporting our liquidity requirements. We do not enter into investments for trading or speculative purposes. At June 30, 2012, the weighted-average duration of our investment portfolio was less than one year.

Our fixed-income portfolio is subject to fluctuations in interest rates, which could affect our results of operations. Based on our investment portfolio balance as of June 30, 2012 a hypothetical change in interest rates of 1% would have approximately a $3.8 million impact, and a change of 0.5% would have approximately a $1.9 million impact on the carrying value of our portfolio.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risks

We have foreign currency risks related to our revenue and operating expenses denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, principally the British Pound Sterling, the Euro, the Australian dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Indian rupee. The volatility of exchange rates depends on many factors that we cannot forecast with reliable accuracy. We have experienced and will continue to experience fluctuations in our net income as a result of gains (losses) related to remeasuring certain cash balances, trade accounts receivable balances and accounts payable balances that are denominated in currencies

 

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other than the U.S. dollar. In the event our foreign currency denominated cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales or expenses increase, our operating results may be more greatly affected by fluctuations in the exchange rates of the currencies in which we do business.

We enter into foreign currency forward contracts to hedge against assets and liabilities for which we have foreign currency exchange rate exposure, in an effort to reduce the risk that our earnings will be adversely affected by foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. These derivative instruments are carried at fair value with changes in the fair value recorded to other income (expense), net in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. Our foreign currency forward contracts which are not designated as hedging instruments are used to reduce the exchange rate risk associated primarily with trade receivables and payables balances. These contracts do not subject us to material balance sheet risk due to exchange rate movements because gains and losses on these derivatives are intended to offset gains and losses on the related receivables and payables for which we have foreign currency exchange rate exposure.

As of June 30, 2012, the Company had 23 outstanding forward contracts with a total notional amount of $49.7 million. The net unrealized gain resulting from changes in fair value of these forward contracts as of June 30, 2012 was not material.

Inflation Risk

We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on such evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

Changes in Internal Control

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in management’s evaluation pursuant to Rules 13a-15(d) or 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act during the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Part II. Other Information

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

We are subject to legal proceedings and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, including, but not limited to, certain pending patent and privacy matters, including class action lawsuits, as well as inquiries, investigations, audits and other regulatory proceedings. Although occasional adverse decisions or settlements may occur, we do not believe that the final disposition of any of these matters will have a material effect on our business. Certain of these matters include speculative claims for substantial or indeterminate amounts of damages, and include claims for injunctive relief, and other regulatory matters could result in fines or penalties being assessed against us. We record a liability when we believe that it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Periodically, we evaluate developments in our legal matters that could affect the amount of liability that has been previously accrued, if any, and make adjustments as appropriate. Significant judgment is required to determine both likelihood of there being, and the estimated amount of, a loss related to such matters, and our judgment may be incorrect. The outcome of any proceeding is not determinable in advance. Until the final resolution of any such matters that we may be required to accrue for, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of the amount accrued, and such amounts could be material.

 

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, before deciding whether to purchase shares of our Class A common stock. If any of the following risks are realized, our business, operating results and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have a limited operating history in a new and unproven market, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.

We have a limited operating history in a new and unproven market that may not develop as expected, if at all. This limited operating history makes it difficult to effectively assess our future prospects. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties we encounter in this rapidly evolving market. These risks and difficulties include our ability to, among other things:

 

   

increase our number of registered members and member engagement;

 

   

avoid interruptions or disruptions in our service or slower than expected website load times;

 

   

continue to earn and preserve our members’ trust with respect to their professional reputation and information;

 

   

responsibly use the data that our members share with us to provide solutions that make our members more successful and productive and that are critical to the hiring and marketing needs of enterprises and professional organizations;

 

   

develop a scalable, high-performance technology infrastructure that can efficiently and reliably handle increased member usage globally, as well as the deployment of new features and products;

 

   

increase revenue from the solutions we provide;

 

   

process, store, protect and use personal data in compliance with governmental regulation, contractual obligations and other legal obligations related to privacy and security;

 

   

successfully compete with other companies that are currently in, or may in the future enter, the online professional network space;

 

   

hire, integrate and retain world class talent;

 

   

halt the operations of websites that aggregate our data as well as data from other companies, or copycat websites that have misappropriated our data;

 

   

defend ourselves against litigation, regulatory or other claims; and

 

   

successfully expand our business, especially internationally.

If the market for online professional networks does not develop as we expect, or if we fail to address the needs of this market, our business will be harmed. We may not be able to successfully address these risks and difficulties or others, including those described elsewhere in these risk factors. Failure to adequately address these risks and difficulties could harm our business and cause our operating results to suffer.

We may not timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and network infrastructure to ensure that our website is accessible within an acceptable load time.

A key element to our continued growth is the ability of our members, users (whom we define as anyone who visits our website, regardless of whether or not they are a member), enterprises and professional organizations in all geographies to access our website within acceptable load times. We call this website performance. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, website disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing our website simultaneously, and denial of service or fraud or security attacks. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these website performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our website performance, especially during peak usage times and as our solutions become more complex and our user traffic increases. If our website is unavailable when users attempt to access it or does not load as quickly as they expect, users may seek other websites to obtain the information for which they are looking, and may not return to our website as often in the future, or at all. This would negatively impact our ability to attract members, enterprises

 

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and professional organizations and increase engagement on our website. We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve website performance and to enable rapid releases of new features and products. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be harmed.

We have implemented a disaster recovery program, which allows us to move production to a back-up data center in the event of a catastrophe. Although this program is functional, it does not yet provide a real-time back-up data center, so if our primary data center shuts down, there will be a period of time that the website will remain shut down while the transition to the back-up data center takes place.

Our systems are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from catastrophic occurrences such as earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures, terrorist attacks and similar events. Our U.S. corporate offices and certain of the facilities we lease to house our computer and telecommunications equipment are located in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, both regions known for seismic activity. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems at our hosting facilities could result in lengthy interruptions in our services.

We do not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to compensate us for the potentially significant losses, including the potential harm to the future growth of our business that may result from interruptions in our service as a result of system failures.

If our security measures are compromised, or if our website is subject to attacks that degrade or deny the ability of members or customers to access our solutions, or if our member data is compromised, members and customers may curtail or stop use of our solutions.

Our solutions involve the storage and transmission of members’ and customers’ information, some of which may be private, and security breaches could expose us to a risk of loss of this information, which could result in potential liability and litigation. Like all websites, our website is vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins, phishing attacks, attempts to overload our servers with denial-of-service or other attacks and similar disruptions from unauthorized use of our computer systems, any of which could lead to interruptions, delays, or website shutdowns, causing loss of critical data or the unauthorized disclosure or use of personally identifiable or other confidential information, such as credit card information. For example, in June 2012, we learned that approximately 6.5 million of our members’ encrypted passwords were stolen and published on an unauthorized website. If we experience compromises to our security that result in website performance or availability problems, the complete shutdown of our website, or the loss or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, our members or customers may be harmed or lose trust and confidence in us, and decrease the use of our website or stop using our website in its entirety, and we would suffer reputational and financial harm. Additionally, we are, and in the future could be, subject to regulatory investigations and litigation in connection with a security breach or related issue, and we could also be liable to third parties for these types of breaches. For example, we work with third party vendors to process credit card payments by our customers and are subject to payment card association operating rules. If our security measures fail to protect this information adequately or we fail to comply with the applicable operating rules, we could be liable to both our customers for their losses, as well as the vendors under our agreements with them, we could be subject to fines and higher transaction fees, we could face regulatory action, and our customers and vendors could end their relationships with us, any of which could harm our business and financial results.

Unauthorized parties may also attempt to fraudulently induce employees, members or customers to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our information or our members’ or customers’ information or access this information through other means. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently, often are not recognized until launched against a target and may originate from less regulated and remote areas around the world, we may be unable to proactively address these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Any or all of these issues could negatively impact our ability to attract new members and increase engagement by existing members, cause existing members to close their accounts or existing customers to cancel their contracts, subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines or other action or liability, thereby harming our operating results.

Our core value of putting our members first may conflict with the short-term interests of our business.

One of our core values is to make decisions based on the best interests of our members, which we believe is essential to our success in increasing our member growth rate and engagement and in serving the best, long-term interests of the company and our stockholders. Therefore, in the past, we have forgone, and may in the future forgo, certain expansion or short-term revenue opportunities that we do not believe are in the best interests of our members, even if our decision negatively impacts our operating results in the short term. In addition, as part of our philosophy of putting our members first, as long as our members are adhering to our terms of service, this philosophy may cause disagreements, or negatively impact our relationships, with our existing or prospective customers. This could result in enterprises and professional organizations

 

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blocking access to our website or refusing to purchase our hiring or marketing solutions or premium subscriptions. Our decisions may not result in the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case our member engagement, business and operating results could be harmed.

The number of our registered members is higher than the number of actual members and a substantial majority of our page views are generated by a minority of our members. Our business may be adversely impacted if we are unable to attract and retain additional members who actively use our website. In addition, the tracking of certain of our performance metrics is done with internal tools and is not independently verified.

The number of registered members in our network is higher than the number of actual members because some members have multiple registrations, other members have died or become incapacitated, and others may have registered under fictitious names. Given the challenges inherent in identifying these accounts, we do not have a reliable system to accurately identify the number of actual members, and thus we rely on the number of registered members as our measure of the size of our network. Further, a substantial majority of our members do not visit our website on a monthly basis, and a substantial majority of our page views are generated by a minority of our members.

We track certain metrics regarding performance metrics with internal tools, which are not independently verified by any third party. The information and the tracking involve a number of limitations.

If the number of our actual members does not meet our expectations, if the rate at which we add new members slows or declines or if we are unable to increase the breadth and frequency of our visiting members, then our business may not grow as fast as we expect. In addition, if our internal tools we use to track certain metrics undercount or overcount performance, the data we report may not be accurate. This may harm our operating and financial results and may cause our stock price to decline.

If our members’ profiles are out-of-date, inaccurate or lack the information that users and customers want to see, we may not be able to realize the full potential of our network, which could adversely impact the growth of our business.

If our members do not update their information or provide accurate and complete information when they join LinkedIn or do not establish sufficient connections, the value of our network may be negatively impacted because our value proposition as a professional network and as a source of accurate and comprehensive data will be weakened. For example, customers of our hiring solutions may not find members that meet their qualifications or may misidentify a candidate as having such qualifications, which could result in mismatches that erode customer confidence in our solutions. Similarly, incomplete or outdated member information would diminish the ability of our marketing solutions customers to reach their target audiences and our ability to provide our customers with valuable insights. Therefore, we must provide features and products that demonstrate the value of our network to our members and motivate them to contribute additional, timely and accurate information to their profile and our network. If we fail to successfully motivate our members to do so, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

We process, store and use personal information and other data, which subjects us to governmental regulation and other legal obligations related to privacy, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.

We receive, store and process personal information and other member data, and we enable our members to share their personal information with each other and with third parties. There are numerous federal, state and local laws around the world regarding privacy and the storing, sharing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of personal information and other member data, the scope of which are changing, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent between countries or conflict with other rules. We generally comply with industry standards and are subject to the terms of our privacy policies and privacy-related obligations to third parties (including voluntary third-party certification bodies such as TRUSTe). We strive to comply with all applicable laws, policies, legal obligations and industry codes of conduct relating to privacy and data protection, to the extent possible. However, it is possible that these obligations may be interpreted and applied in new ways and/or in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices or that new regulations could be enacted. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our privacy policies, our privacy-related obligations to users or other third parties, or our privacy-related legal obligations, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized release or transfer of sensitive information, which may include personally identifiable information or other member data, may result in governmental enforcement actions, litigation or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could cause our members and customers to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Additionally, if third parties we work with, such as customers, vendors or developers, violate applicable laws or our policies, such violations may also put our members’ information at risk and could in turn have an adverse effect on our business.

 

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Public scrutiny of Internet privacy issues may result in increased regulation and different industry standards, which could deter or prevent us from providing our current products and solutions to our members and customers, thereby harming our business.

The regulatory framework for privacy issues worldwide is currently in flux and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Practices regarding the collection, use, storage, transmission and security of personal information by companies operating over the Internet have recently come under increased public scrutiny. The U.S. government, including the White House, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, are reviewing the need for greater regulation for the collection of information concerning consumer behavior on the Internet, including regulation aimed at restricting certain targeted advertising practices. The White House recently published a report calling for a consumer privacy Bill of Rights that could impact the collection of data on the Internet. In addition, the European Union is in the process of proposing reforms to its existing data protection legal framework, which may result in a greater compliance burden for companies with users in Europe. Various government and consumer agencies have also called for new regulation and changes in industry practices. Recently, the State of California and several other states have adopted privacy guidelines with respect to mobile applications.

Our business, including our ability to operate and expand internationally, could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are adopted, interpreted, or implemented in a manner that is inconsistent with our current business practices and that require changes to these practices, the design of our website, products, features or our privacy policy. In particular, the success of our business has been, and we expect will continue to be, driven by our ability to responsibly use the data that our members share with us. Therefore, our business could be harmed by any significant change to applicable laws, regulations or industry practices regarding the use or disclosure of data our members choose to share with us, or regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of consumers for such use and disclosure is obtained. Such changes may require us to modify our products and features, possibly in a material manner, and may limit our ability to develop new products and features that make use of the data that we collect about our members.

Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and foreign laws, many of which are unsettled and still developing and which could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business.

We are subject to a variety of laws in the United States and abroad, including laws regarding privacy, data security, data retention and consumer protection and the provision of online payment services, that are continuously evolving and developing. The scope and interpretation of the laws that are or may be applicable to us are often uncertain and may be conflicting, particularly laws outside the United States. For example, laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for activities of their users and other third parties are currently being tested by a number of claims, including actions based on invasion of privacy and other torts, unfair competition, copyright and trademark infringement, and other theories based on the nature and content of the materials searched, the ads posted, or the content provided by users. In addition, regulatory authorities around the world are considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals concerning privacy and data protection and other matters that may be applicable to our business. It is also likely that as our business grows and evolves and our solutions are used in a greater number of countries, we will become subject to laws and regulations in additional jurisdictions. It is difficult to predict how existing laws will be applied to our business and the new laws to which we may become subject.

If we are not able to comply with these laws or regulations or if we become liable under these laws or regulations, we could be directly harmed, and we may be forced to implement new measures to reduce our exposure to this liability. This may require us to expend substantial resources or to discontinue certain solutions, which would negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the increased attention focused upon liability issues as a result of lawsuits and legislative proposals could harm our reputation or otherwise impact the growth of our business. Any costs incurred as a result of this potential liability could harm our business and operating results.

We expect our operating results to fluctuate on a quarterly and annual basis, which may result in a decline in our stock price if such fluctuations result in a failure to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors.

Our revenue and operating results could vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year and may fail to match our past performance because of a variety of factors, some of which are outside of our control. Any of these events could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to fluctuate. Factors that may contribute to the variability of our operating results include:

 

   

the unproven nature of our business model;

 

   

our commitment to putting our members first even if it means forgoing short-term revenue opportunities;

 

   

the cost of investing in our technology infrastructure may be greater than we anticipate;

 

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our ability to increase our member base and member engagement;

 

   

disruptions or outages in our website availability, actual or perceived breaches of privacy, and compromises of our member data;

 

   

the entrance of new competitors in our market whether by established companies or the entrance of new companies;

 

   

changes in our pricing policies or those of our competitors;

 

   

macroeconomic changes, in particular, deterioration in labor markets, which would adversely impact sales of our hiring solutions, or economic growth that does not lead to job growth, for instance increases in productivity;

 

   

the timing and costs of expanding our field sales organization and delays or inability in achieving expected productivity;

 

   

the timing of certain expenditures, including hiring of employees and capital expenditures;

 

   

our ability to increase sales of our products and solutions to new customers and expand sales of additional products and solutions to our existing customers;

 

   

the size and seasonal variability of our customers’ recruiting and marketing budgets;

 

   

the extent to which existing customers renew their agreements with us and the timing and terms of those renewals; and

 

   

general industry and macroeconomic conditions.

Given our limited operating history and the rapidly evolving market of online professional networks, our historical operating results may not be useful to you in predicting our future operating results. We believe our rapid growth has masked the cyclicality and seasonality of our business. As our revenue growth rate slows, we expect that the cyclicality and seasonality in our business may become more pronounced and may in the future cause our operating results to fluctuate. In particular, we expect sales of hiring solutions to be weaker in the first quarter of the year due to budgetary cycles and sales of our marketing solutions to be weaker in the third quarter of the year as Internet usage during the summer months generally slows. In addition, global economic concerns continue to create uncertainty and unpredictability and add risk to our future outlook. Sovereign debt issues and economic uncertainty in the United States, Europe and around the world raise concerns in markets important to our business. An economic downturn in any particular region in which we do business or globally could result in reductions in sales of our hiring and marketing solutions, decreased renewals of existing arrangements and other adverse effects that could harm our operating results.

We expect our revenue growth rate to decline, and, as our costs increase, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to sustain our profitability over the long term.

From 2008 to 2011, our net revenue grew from $78.8 million to $522.2 million, which represents a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 88%. As our net revenue has increased to higher levels, our revenue growth rate has slowed, and we expect that it will continue to decline over time. We also expect that the growth rates of each of our three primary business lines will fluctuate and the business lines may not grow at the same rate. As with 2011, our philosophy in 2012 is to continue to invest for future growth. We expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on:

 

   

our technology infrastructure, including website architecture, development tools scalability, availability, performance and security, as well as disaster recovery measures;

 

   

product development, including investments in our product development team and the development of new features;

 

   

sales and marketing, including a significant expansion of our field sales organization;

 

   

international expansion in an effort to increase our member base, engagement and sales; and

 

   

general administration, including legal and accounting expenses related to being a public company.

These investments may not result in increased revenue or growth in our business, and will increase our expenses. If we fail to continue to grow our revenue and overall business, our operating results and business would be harmed.

 

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We expect to face increasing competition in the market for online professional networks from social networking sites and Internet search companies, among others, as well as continued competition for customers of our hiring and marketing solutions.

We face significant competition in all aspects of our business, and we expect such competition to increase, particularly in the market for online professional networks.

Our industry is evolving rapidly and is becoming increasingly competitive. Larger and more established companies may focus on our market and could directly compete with us. Smaller companies, including application developers, could also launch new products and services that compete with us and that could gain market acceptance quickly. We also expect our existing competitors in the markets for hiring and marketing solutions to continue to focus on these areas. A number of these companies may have greater resources than us, which may enable them to compete more effectively. Additionally, users of social networks may choose to use, or increase their use of, those networks for professional purposes, which may result in those users decreasing or eliminating their use of LinkedIn. Companies that currently focus on social networking could also expand their focus to professionals. We and other companies have historically established alliances and relationships with some of these companies to allow broader exposure to users and access to data on the Internet. We may also, in the future, establish alliances or relationships with other competitors or potential competitors. To the extent companies terminate such relationships and establish alliances and relationships with others, our business could be harmed. Specifically, we compete for members, enterprises and professional organizations as discussed below.

Members—Professional Networks. The market for online professional networks is new and rapidly evolving. Other companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter are developing or could develop competing solutions. Further, some of these companies are partnering with third parties to offer products and services that could compete with ours. We face competition from a number of smaller companies in international markets, such as Xing in Germany and Viadeo in France, that provide online professional networking solutions, as well as Internet companies in the customer relationship management market, such as salesforce.com (Chatter and Jigsaw). Our competitors may announce new products, services or enhancements that better address changing industry standards or the needs of members and customers, such as mobile access. Any such increased competition could cause pricing pressure, loss of market share or decreased member engagement, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results. Internet search engines could also change their methodologies in ways that adversely affect our ability to optimize our page rankings within their search results.

Enterprises and Professional Organizations—Hiring Solutions. With respect to our hiring solutions, we compete with established online recruiting companies, such as Monster, CareerBuilder and Indeed.com, talent management companies and larger companies that are focusing on talent management, such as Oracle (through its acquisition of Taleo) and SAP (through its acquisition of SuccessFactors), and traditional recruiting firms. Additionally, other companies, including newcomers to the recruiting industry, may partner with internet companies, including social networking companies, to provide services that compete with our solutions, either on their own or as third party applications, such as BranchOut. If the efficiency and usefulness of our products to enterprises and professional organizations do not continue to exceed those provided by competitors, which factors are influenced by the number and engagement of our members, we will not be able to compete successfully.

Enterprises and Professional Organizations—Advertising and Marketing. With respect to our marketing solutions, we compete with online and offline outlets that generate revenue from advertisers and marketers. To the extent competitors are better able to provide advertisers with cost-effective access to attractive demographics, either through new business models or increased user volume, we may not be successful in retaining our existing advertisers or attracting new advertisers, and our business would be harmed.

Finally, other companies that provide content for professionals could develop more compelling offerings that compete with our premium subscriptions and adversely impact our ability to sell and renew subscriptions to our members.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business and operating results could be harmed.

We continue to experience rapid growth in our headcount and operations, which will continue to place significant demands on our management and our operational and financial infrastructure. As of June 30, 2012, approximately 52.9% of our employees had been with us for less than one year and approximately 80.8% for less than two years. As we continue to grow, we must effectively integrate, develop and motivate a large number of new employees in various countries around the world, and we must maintain the beneficial aspects of our corporate culture. In particular, we intend to continue to make substantial investments to expand our engineering, research and development, field sales, and general and administrative organizations, and our international operations. To attract top talent, we have had to offer, and believe we will need to continue to offer, highly competitive compensation packages before we can validate the productivity of those employees. We face significant competition for talent from other internet and high-growth companies, which include both publicly traded and privately-held companies. As we have transitioned from a private company to a public company, this competition has become even more acute in assessing appropriate compensation packages. The risks of over-hiring (especially given overall macroeconomic risks) or over-compensating and the challenges of integrating a rapidly growing employee base into our corporate culture are exacerbated by our international expansion. Additionally, we may not be able to hire new employees

 

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quickly enough to meet our needs. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring needs and successfully integrate our new hires, our efficiency and ability to meet our forecasts and our employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

Additionally, if we do not effectively manage the growth of our business and operations, the quality of our solutions could suffer, which could negatively affect our brand, operating results and overall business. Further, we have made changes in the past, and will in the future make changes, to our features, products and services that our members or customers may not like, find useful or agree with. We may also decide to discontinue certain features, products or services, or charge for certain features, products or services that are currently free or increase fees for any of our features, products or services. If members or customers are unhappy with these changes, they may decrease their engagement on our site, or stop using features, products or services or the site generally. They may, in addition, choose to take other types of action against us such as organizing petitions or boycotts focused on our company, our website or any of our services, filing claims with the government or other regulatory bodies, or filing lawsuits against us. Any of these actions could negatively impact our member growth and engagement and our brand, which would harm our business. To effectively manage this growth, we will need to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls, and our reporting systems and procedures by, among other things:

 

   

improving our information technology infrastructure to maintain the effectiveness of our solutions;

 

   

enhancing information and communication systems to ensure that our employees and offices around the world are well-coordinated and can effectively communicate with each other and our growing base of members, enterprises and professional organizations;

 

   

enhancing our internal controls to ensure timely and accurate reporting of all of our operations; and

 

   

appropriately documenting our information technology systems and our business processes.

These systems enhancements and improvements will require significant capital expenditures and allocation of valuable management and employee resources. If we fail to implement these improvements effectively, our ability to manage our expected growth and comply with the rules and regulations that are applicable to publicly reporting companies will be impaired.

Our international operations are subject to increased challenges and risks.

We have offices around the world and our website is available in English, as well as Czech, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. We expect to continue to expand our international operations in the future by opening offices in new jurisdictions and expanding our offerings in new languages. However, we have limited operating history as a company outside the United States, and our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally requires considerable management attention and resources and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business in an environment of multiple languages, cultures, customs, legal systems, alternative dispute systems, regulatory systems and commercial infrastructures. International expansion will require us to invest significant funds and other resources. Expanding internationally may subject us to risks that we have either not faced before or increase risks that we currently face, including risks associated with:

 

   

recruiting and retaining talented and capable employees in foreign countries and maintaining our company culture across all of our offices;

 

   

providing solutions across a significant distance, in different languages and among different cultures, including potentially modifying our solutions and features to ensure that they are culturally relevant in different countries;

 

   

increased competition from local websites and services, that provide online professional networking solutions, such as Germany-based Xing and France-based Viadeo, who may also expand their geographic footprint;

 

   

compliance with applicable foreign laws and regulations;

 

   

longer payment cycles in some countries;

 

   

credit risk and higher levels of payment fraud;

 

   

compliance with anti-bribery laws including without limitation, compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Anti-Bribery Act;

 

   

currency exchange rate fluctuations;

 

   

foreign exchange controls that might prevent us from repatriating cash earned outside the United States;

 

   

political and economic instability in some countries, specifically in Ireland;

 

   

double taxation of our non-U.S. earnings and potentially adverse tax consequences due to changes in the tax laws of the United States or the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate; and

 

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higher costs of doing business internationally.

If our revenue from our international operations, and particularly from our operations in the countries and regions on which we have focused our spending, do not exceed the expense of establishing and maintaining these operations, our business and operating results will suffer.

Our business depends on a strong brand, and any failure to maintain, protect and enhance our brand would hurt our ability to retain or expand our base of members, enterprises and professional organizations, or our ability to increase their level of engagement.

We have developed a strong brand that we believe has contributed significantly to the success of our business. Our brand is predicated on the idea that individual professionals will find immense value in building and maintaining their professional identities and reputations on our platform. If our members or potential members determine that they can use other platforms, such as social networks, for the same purposes as or as a replacement for our network, or if they choose to blend their professional and social networking activities, our brand and our business could be harmed. Maintaining, protecting and enhancing the “LinkedIn” brand is critical to expanding our base of members, enterprises, advertisers, corporate customers and other partners, and increasing their engagement with our website, and will depend largely on our ability to maintain member trust, be a technology leader and continue to provide high-quality solutions, which we may not do successfully. If we do not successfully maintain a strong brand, our business could be harmed.

We may not be able to halt the operations of online services that aggregate our data as well as data from other companies, including social networks, or copycat online services that have misappropriated our data in the past or may misappropriate our data in the future. These activities could harm our brand and our business.

From time to time, third parties have misappropriated our data through scraping, robots or other means and aggregated this data on their online services with other data. In addition, “copycat” online services have misappropriated data on our network and attempted to imitate our brand or the functionality of our services. These activities could degrade our brand and harm our business. When we have become aware of such online services, we have employed technological or legal measures in an attempt to halt these unauthorized activities. However, we may not be able to detect all such activities in a timely manner and, even if we could, technological and legal measures may be insufficient to stop their operations. In some cases, particularly in the case of online services operating from outside of the United States, our available legal remedies may not be adequate to protect our business against such activities. Regardless of whether we can successfully enforce our rights against these online services, any measures that we may take could require us to expend significant financial or other resources.

Failure to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights could harm our business and operating results.

We regard the protection of our trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, domain names and patents as critical to our success. In particular, we must maintain, protect and enhance the “LinkedIn” brand. We strive to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on federal, state and common law rights and other rights provided under foreign laws, as well as through contractual restrictions. We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, and often enter into confidentiality agreements with parties with whom we conduct business in order to limit access to, and disclosure and use of, our proprietary information. However, these contractual arrangements and the other steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not prevent the misappropriation of our proprietary information, infringement of our intellectual property rights or deter independent development of similar or competing technologies by others.

We pursue the registration of our domain names, trademarks, and service marks in the United States and in certain locations outside the United States. Obtaining and maintaining effective intellectual property rights is expensive, including the costs of defending our rights. We are seeking to protect our trademarks, patents, and domain names in a number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and may not be successful in all jurisdictions for every such right or which we may not pursue in every location. We may, over time, increase our investment in protecting innovations through investments in patents and similar rights that is expensive and time-consuming.

Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our respective trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results. We may incur significant costs in enforcing our trademarks against those who attempt to imitate our “LinkedIn” brand and other valuable trademarks and service marks.

 

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If we fail to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property rights, our business and operating results may be harmed, and the market price of our Class A common stock could decline.

We are, and may in the future be, subject to legal proceedings and litigation, including intellectual property and privacy disputes, which are costly to defend and could harm our business and operating results.

We are party to lawsuits and legal proceedings in the normal course of business. These matters are often expensive and disruptive to normal business operations. We are currently facing, and expect to face in the future, allegations, lawsuits and regulatory inquiries, audits and investigations regarding data privacy, security and intellectual property infringement, including claims related to privacy, patents, publicity, trademarks, copyrights and other rights. Litigation and regulatory proceedings, and particularly the patent infringement and class action matters we are facing or may face, may be protracted and expensive, and the results are difficult to predict. Adverse outcomes with respect to litigation or any of these legal proceedings may result in significant settlement costs or judgments, penalties or fines, or require us to modify our products and features while we develop non-infringing substitutes or require us to stop offering certain features. Managing legal proceedings and litigation, even if we achieve favorable outcomes, is time-consuming and diverts management’s attention from our business.

In addition, we use open source software in our solutions and plan to use open source software in the future. From time to time, we may face claims from others claiming ownership of open source software, or breach of open source license terms, including a demand for release of material portions of our source code or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could also result in litigation, require us to purchase a costly license, require us to establish specific open source compliance procedures, or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our solutions, any of which would have a negative effect on our business and operating results.

Although the results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, and determining reserves for pending litigation requires significant judgment, we do not believe that the final outcome of any matter that we currently face will have a material adverse effect on our business. However, there can be no assurance that our expectations will prove correct, and even if these matters are not resolved in our favor or without significant cash settlements, these matters, and the time and resources necessary to litigate or, resolve them, could harm our business, our operating results, our reputation or the market price of our Class A common stock.

If we do not continue to attract new customers, or if existing customers do not renew their subscriptions, renew on less favorable terms, or fail to purchase additional solutions, we may not achieve our revenue projections, and our operating results would be harmed.

In order to grow our business, we must continually attract new customers, sell additional solutions to existing customers and reduce the level of non-renewals in our business. Our ability to do so depends in large part on the success of our sales and marketing efforts. We do not typically enter into long-term contracts with our customers, and even when we do, they can generally terminate their relationship with us. We have limited historical data with respect to rates of customer renewals, upgrades and expansions, so we may not accurately predict future trends for any of these metrics. Furthermore, unlike traditional software companies, the nature of our products and solutions is such that customers may decide to terminate or not renew their agreements with us without causing significant disruptions to their own businesses.

We must demonstrate that our hiring solutions are an important recruiting tool for enterprises and professional organizations and that our marketing solutions provide them with access to an audience of one of the most influential, affluent and highly educated audiences on the Internet. However, potential customers may not be familiar with our solutions or may prefer other more traditional products and services for their hiring, advertising and marketing needs.

The rate at which we expand our customer base or increase our customers’ renewal rates may decline or fluctuate because of several factors, including the prices of our solutions, the prices of products and services offered by our competitors, reduced hiring by our customers or reductions in their hiring or marketing spending levels due to macroeconomic or other factors and the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of our solutions. If we do not attract new customers or if our customers do not renew their agreements for our solutions, renew on less favorable terms, or do not purchase additional functionality or offerings, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected or decline.

Ultimately, attracting new customers and retaining existing customers requires that we continue to provide high quality solutions that our customers value, and we focus on customer acquisition and market penetration rather than pricing. In particular, our hiring solutions customers will discontinue their purchases of our solutions if we fail to effectively connect them with the talent they seek, and our premium subscribers will discontinue their subscriptions if they do not find the networking and business opportunities that they value. Similarly, customers of our marketing solutions will not continue to do business with us if their advertisements do not reach their intended audiences. Therefore we must continue to demonstrate to our customers that using our marketing solutions is the most effective and cost-efficient way to maximize their results. Even if our marketing solutions are providing value to our customers, advertisers are sensitive to general economic

 

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downturns and reductions in consumer spending, among other events and trends, which generally results in reduced advertising expenditures and could adversely affect sales of our marketing solutions. If we fail to provide high quality solutions and convince customers of our value proposition, we may not be able to retain existing customers or attract new customers, which would harm our business and operating results.

Because we recognize most of the revenue from our hiring solutions and our premium subscriptions over the term of the agreement, a significant downturn in these businesses may not be immediately reflected in our operating results.

We recognize revenue from sales of our hiring solutions and premium subscriptions over the terms of the agreements, which is typically 12 months. As a result, a significant portion of the revenue we report in each quarter is generated from agreements entered into during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed agreements in any one quarter may not significantly impact our revenue in that quarter but will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. In addition, we may be unable to adjust our fixed costs in response to reduced revenue. Accordingly, the effect of significant declines in the sales of these offerings may not be reflected in our short-term results of operations.

We depend on world class talent to grow and operate our business, and if we are unable to hire, retain and motivate our personnel, we may not be able to grow effectively.

Our future success will depend upon our continued ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain world class talent. Our ability to execute efficiently is dependent upon contributions from all of our employees, in particular our senior management team. Key institutional knowledge remains with a small group of long-term employees and directors whom we may not be able to retain. We may not be able to retain the services of any of our long-term employees or other members of senior management in the future. We do not have employment agreements other than offer letters with any key employee, and we do not maintain key person life insurance for any employee. In addition, from time to time, there may be changes in our senior management team that may be disruptive to our business. If our senior management team, including any new hires that we may make, fails to work together effectively and to execute our plans and strategies on a timely basis, our business could be harmed.

Our growth strategy also depends on our ability to expand and retain our organization with world class talent. Identifying, recruiting, training and integrating qualified individuals will require significant time, expense and attention. In addition to hiring new employees, we must continue to focus on retaining our best talent. Competition for these resources is intense, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters is located. We may need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity for new employees and we may never realize returns on these investments. If we are not able to effectively increase and retain our talent, our ability to achieve our strategic objectives will be adversely impacted, and our business will be harmed.

We believe that our culture has the potential to be a key contributor to our success. From 2010 to 2011, we more than doubled the size of our workforce, and we expect to continue to hire aggressively as we expand, especially in field sales and internationally. If we do not continue to develop our corporate culture as we grow and evolve, including maintaining our culture of transparency with our employees, it could harm our ability to foster the innovation, creativity and teamwork we believe we need to support our growth. In addition, we completed our initial public offering in May 2011. As a result, employees who have been with us for longer than a year have been able to and may continue to realize substantial financial gains in connection with the sales of their shares from the exercise of their vested options, which could result in a loss of employees. There will likely be disparities of wealth between those of our employees whom we hired prior to our initial public offering in May 2011 and those who joined us after we became a public company, which could adversely impact relations among employees and our culture in general.

Many individuals are using devices other than personal computers to access the Internet. If users of these devices do not widely adopt solutions we develop for these devices, our business could be adversely affected.

The number of people who access the Internet through devices other than personal computers, including mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, smart phones and handheld tablets or computers, has increased dramatically in the past few years and is projected to continue to increase. If the mobile solutions we have developed do not meet the needs of our users, our business could suffer. Additionally, as new devices and new platforms are continually being released, it is difficult to predict the problems we may encounter in developing versions of our solutions for use on these alternative devices, and we may need to devote significant resources to the creation, support, and maintenance of such devices.

Growth in access to LinkedIn through mobile devices as a substitute for access on personal computers may negatively affect our revenue and financial results.

Because access to the Internet through mobile devices is growing, our members are increasingly accessing LinkedIn on mobile devices. While our members who use LinkedIn on mobile devices also access LinkedIn through personal computers, as we have developed our mobile solutions, we have seen substantial growth in mobile usage, and we anticipate that the rate of growth in mobile usage will continue to grow and may exceed the growth in usage through personal computers. Advertising is a source of revenue for us, and it is not clear that we will be able find ways for our marketing solutions product to be effectively used on mobile devices. Accordingly, if our members increasingly use mobile

 

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devices as a substitute for access to LinkedIn as opposed to personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our solutions on mobile devices, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.

The effectiveness of our marketing solutions depends in part on our relationships with advertising serving technology companies.

We rely, in part, on advertising serving technology companies to deliver our marketing solutions product. Our agreements with these companies may not be extended or renewed after their respective expirations, or we may not be able to extend or renew our agreements on terms and conditions favorable to us. If these agreements are terminated, we may not be able to enter into agreements with alternative companies on acceptable terms or on a timely basis or both, which could negatively impact revenue from our marketing solutions.

Enterprises or professional organizations, including governmental agencies, may restrict access to our website, which could lead to the loss or slowing of growth in our member base or the level of member engagement.

Our solutions depend on the ability of our members to access the Internet and our website. Enterprises or professional organizations, including governmental agencies, could block access to our website or the Internet generally for a number of reasons such as security or confidentiality concerns or regulatory reasons, or they may adopt policies that prohibit listing the employers’ names on the employees’ LinkedIn profiles in order to minimize the risk that employees will be contacted and hired by other employers. For example, the government of the People’s Republic of China previously blocked access to our site in China for a short period of time. We cannot assure you that the Chinese government will not block access to one or more of our features and products or our entire site in China for a longer period of time or permanently. If these entities block or limit access to our website or adopt policies restricting our members from providing us with accurate and up-to-date information, the value of our network could be negatively impacted, which would adversely affect our ability to offer compelling hiring and marketing solutions and subscriptions to our members, enterprises, professional organizations and customers.

If Internet search engines’ methodologies are modified or our search result page rankings decline for other reasons, our member engagement could decline.

We depend in part on various Internet search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!, to direct a significant amount of traffic to our website. Our ability to maintain the number of visitors directed to our website is not entirely within our control. Our competitors’ search engine optimization, or SEO, efforts may result in their websites receiving a higher search result page ranking than ours, or Internet search engines could revise their methodologies in an attempt to improve their search results, which could adversely affect the placement of our search result page ranking. If search engine companies modify their search algorithms in ways that are detrimental to our new user growth or in ways that make it harder for our members to use our website, or if our competitors’ SEO efforts are more successful than ours, overall growth in our member base could slow, member engagement could decrease, and we could lose existing members. These modifications may be prompted by search engine companies entering the online professional networking market or aligning with competitors. Our website has experienced fluctuations in search result rankings in the past, and we anticipate similar fluctuations in the future. Any reduction in the number of users directed to our website would harm our business and operating results.

Our business depends on continued and unimpeded access to the internet by us and our members. If government regulations relating to the Internet or other areas of our business change or Internet access providers are able to block, degrade, or charge for access to certain of our products and services, we could incur additional expenses and the loss of members and customers.

Our products and services depend on the ability of our members and customers to access the internet. The adoption of any laws or regulations that adversely affect the growth, popularity or use of the Internet, including laws limiting Internet neutrality, could decrease the demand for our subscription service and increase our cost of doing business. For example, in late 2010, the Federal Communications Commission adopted so-called net neutrality rules intended, in part, to prevent network operators from discriminating against legal traffic that transverse their networks. The rules are currently subject to legal challenge and some of internet providers have taken, or have stated that they may take, measures that could degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of user access to the Internet, which could result in decreased usage of our products and services by our members and our customers. To the extent that these rules are interpreted to enable network operators to engage in discriminatory practices or are overturned by legal challenge, our business could be adversely impacted. Other proposed regulations, like the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, would also impair access to the internet and our business if enacted.

 

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Our growth depends in part on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties.

We anticipate that we will continue to depend on relationships with various third parties, including technology and content providers to grow our business. Identifying, negotiating and documenting relationships with third parties require significant time and resources, as does integrating third-party content and technology. Our agreements with technology and content providers and similar third parties are typically non-exclusive and do not prohibit them from working with our competitors or from offering competing services. Our competitors may be effective in providing incentives to these parties to favor their solutions or may prevent us from developing strategic relationships with these parties. In addition, these third parties may not perform as expected under our agreements with them, and we have had, and may in the future have, disagreements or disputes with these parties, which could negatively affect our brand and reputation. It is possible that these third parties may not be able to devote the resources we expect to the relationship. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with these third parties, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenue could be impaired, and our operating results would suffer. Even if we are successful, these relationships may not result in improved operating results.

If currency exchange rates fluctuate substantially in the future, the results of our operations, which are reported in U.S. dollars, could be adversely affected.

As we continue to expand our international operations, we become more exposed to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. We incur expenses for employee compensation and other operating expenses at our non-U.S. locations in the local currency, and accept payment from customers in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Since we conduct business in currencies other than U.S. dollars but report our financial results in U.S. dollars, we face exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Consequently, exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and other currencies could have a material impact on our profitability. Although we hedge a portion of our international currency exposure, significant fluctuations in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may adversely affect our net income. Additionally, hedging programs are inherently risky, rely on our ability to forecast accurately and could expose us to additional risks that could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

The intended tax benefits of our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements depend on the application of the tax laws of various jurisdictions and on how we operate our business, and changes to our effective tax rate could adversely impact our results.

Our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements, including the manner in which we develop and use our intellectual property and the transfer pricing of our intercompany transactions, are intended to reduce our worldwide effective tax rate. The application of the tax laws of various jurisdictions, including the United States and the other jurisdictions in which we operate, to our international business activities is subject to interpretation and depends on our ability to operate our business in a manner consistent with our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements. The taxing authorities of the jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge our methodologies for valuing developed technology or intercompany arrangements, including our transfer pricing. In particular, our international headquarters outside of the United States is located in Dublin, Ireland, but tax authorities in other jurisdictions where we operate, and specifically other countries in Europe, may make a determination that the manner in which we operate results in our business not achieving the intended tax consequences, which could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our financial position and results of operations. Our effective tax rate could be adversely affected by several other factors, many of which are outside of our control, such as: increases in expenses that are not deductible for tax purposes, the tax effects of restructuring charges or purchase accounting for acquisitions, changes related to our ability to ultimately realize future benefits attributed to our deferred tax assets, including those related to other-than-temporary impairment, and a change in our decision to indefinitely reinvest foreign earnings. Further, we are subject to review and audit by both domestic and foreign tax authorities. Any adverse outcome of such a review or audit could have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.

The enactment of legislation implementing changes in the U.S. taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other tax reform policies or changes in tax legislation or policies in jurisdictions outside the United States could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

The current administration has made public statements indicating that it has made international tax reform a priority, and key members of the U.S. Congress have conducted hearings and proposed new legislation. Changes to U.S. tax laws, including limitations on the ability of taxpayers to claim and utilize foreign tax credits and the deferral of certain tax deductions until earnings outside of the United States are repatriated to the United States, as well as changes to U.S. tax laws that may be enacted in the future, could impact the tax treatment of our foreign earnings. Additionally, changes in tax laws or regulations in jurisdictions outside the United States, including countries in Europe, could materially impact our business. Due to the large and expanding scale of our international business activities, any changes in the U.S. or international taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our financial position and results of operations.

 

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We may require additional capital to support business growth, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

We intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth and may require additional funds to respond to business challenges, including the need to develop new features and products or enhance our existing solutions, improve our operating infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses and technologies. Accordingly, we may engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. For example, in November 2011, we completed a follow-on offering in which we sold a total of approximately 2.6 million shares (including over-allotments) of our Class A Common Stock. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A common stock. Any debt financing we secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business may be harmed.

Acquisitions and investments could result in operating difficulties, dilution, and other harmful consequences that may adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Since the beginning of 2010, we have acquired several private companies. While these acquisitions were primarily to acquire talent and technology, we may engage in larger acquisitions in the future and these transactions could be material to our financial condition and results of operations. We also expect to continue to evaluate and enter into discussions regarding a wide array of potential strategic transactions. The process of integrating an acquired company, business, or technology has created, and will continue to create, unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. The areas where we face risks include:

 

   

loss of key employees of the acquired company and other challenges associated integrating new employees into our culture;

 

   

diversion of management time and focus from operating our business to acquisition integration challenges;

 

   

implementation or remediation of controls, procedures, and policies at the acquired company;

 

   

integration of the acquired company’s accounting, human resource, and other administrative systems, and coordination of product, engineering, and sales and marketing function;

 

   

failure to successfully further develop the acquired technology; and

 

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liability for activities of the acquired company before the acquisition, including patent and trademark infringement claims, violations of laws, commercial disputes, tax liabilities, and other known and unknown liabilities.

These risks or other problems encountered in connection with our acquisitions and investments could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions or investments, incur unanticipated liabilities, and adversely affect our business generally.

Future acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, or amortization expenses, or write-offs of goodwill, any of which could harm our financial condition. Also, the anticipated benefit of many of our acquisitions may not materialize.

Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock

The dual class structure of our common stock as contained in our charter documents has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our stock prior to our initial public offering, including our founders and our executive officers, employees and directors and their affiliates, and limiting our other stockholders’ ability to influence corporate matters.

Our Class B common stock has 10 votes per share, and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. Stockholders who hold shares of Class B common stock, including our founders, and our executive officers, employees and directors and their affiliates, together held approximately 77% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock as of June 30, 2012. Our co-founder and Chair, Reid Hoffman, controlled approximately 18% of our outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock, representing approximately 54% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock as of June 30, 2012. Therefore, Mr. Hoffman has significant influence over the management and affairs of the company and over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets. Mr. Hoffman will continue to have significant influence over these matters for the foreseeable future.

In addition, the holders of Class B common stock collectively will continue to be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval even if their stock holdings represent less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our common stock. Because of the 10-to-1 voting ratio between our Class B and Class A common stock, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a majority of the combined voting power of our common stock even when the shares of Class B common stock represent as little as 10% of the combined voting power of all outstanding shares of our Class A and Class B common stock. This concentrated control will limit the ability of our Class A stockholders to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future, and, as a result, the market price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, which will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. If, for example, Mr. Hoffman retains a significant portion of his holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, he could, in the future, control a majority of the combined voting power of our Class A and Class B common stock. As a board member, Mr. Hoffman owes a fiduciary duty to our stockholders and must act in good faith in a manner he reasonably believes to be in the best interests of our stockholders. As a stockholder, even a controlling stockholder, Mr. Hoffman is entitled to vote his shares in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally.

Our stock price has been volatile in the past and may be subject to volatility in the future.

The trading price of our Class A common stock has been volatile historically, and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us or in valuation metrics, such as our price to earnings ratio, could impact our stock price. Additionally, the stock markets have at times experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and might in the future affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations have, in some cases, been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. Further, the trading prices of publicly traded shares of companies in our industry have been particularly volatile and may be very volatile in the future. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes, international currency fluctuations or political unrest, may negatively impact the market price of our Class A common stock. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could harm our business.

 

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There may be a limited market for investors in our industry.

There are few publicly traded companies in the social and professional networking and related industries at this time, and, in fact, we were among the first social networking companies to go public. In addition, other companies in our industry are in the process of going public, and others may do so in the relatively near future. Investors may have limited funds to invest in the social and professional networking sector, and as publicly traded securities in these industries become more available, investors who have purchased or may in the future purchase securities in this sector may choose to sell LinkedIn securities that they have already purchased in favor of these other companies, and/or choose to invest in other companies, including our competitors. As a result, demand for our Class A common stock could decline, which would result in a corresponding decline in our stock price.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our Class A common stock.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws include provisions that:

 

   

authorize our board of directors to issue, without further action by the stockholders, up to 100,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock;

 

   

require that any action to be taken by our stockholders be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting and not by written consent;

 

   

specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our board of directors, the Chair of our board of directors, or our Chief Executive Officer;

 

   

establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our board of directors;

 

   

establish that our board of directors is divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with each class serving three-year staggered terms;

 

   

prohibit cumulative voting in the election of directors;

 

   

provide that our directors may be removed only for cause;

 

   

provide that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum;

 

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require the approval of our board of directors or the holders of a supermajority of our outstanding shares of capital stock to amend our bylaws and certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation; and

 

   

reflect two classes of common stock, as discussed above.

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, institutional shareholder representative groups, shareholder activists and others may disagree with our corporate governance provisions or other practices, including our dual class structure and the other anti-takeover provisions, such as those listed above. We generally will consider recommendations of institutional shareholder representative groups, but we will make decisions based on what our board and management believe to be in the best long term interests of our company and stockholders. Our dual class structure concentrates the voting power of our stock in a small group of stockholders who would have the ability to control the outcome of a stockholder vote. Additionally, these groups could make recommendations to our stockholders against our practices or our board members if they disagree with our positions. Finally, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock depends, to some extent, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our shares, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified board members.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of the NYSE and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations has increased and will continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly, and increase demand on our systems and resources. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and operating results. Although we have hired additional employees to comply with these requirements, we may need to hire more employees in the future, which will increase our costs and expenses.

In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.

As a public company that is subject to these rules and regulations, we may find that it is more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors and qualified executive officers.

 

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We are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting. We may not complete our analysis of our internal controls over financial reporting in a timely manner, or these internal controls may not be determined to be effective, which may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our Class A common stock.

We are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for 2012. This assessment will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting, as well as a statement that our auditors have issued an attestation report on our management’s assessment of our internal controls.

We are in the early stages of the costly and challenging process of compiling the system and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404. We may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion. During the evaluation and testing process, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal controls are effective.

If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our auditors are unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.

We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the development of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

a) Unregistered Sale of Equity Securities

In connection with an acquisition agreement entered into on June 10, 2012, we agreed to issue up to an aggregate of 301,358 shares of our Class A common stock to the stockholders of the company we acquired as a portion of the consideration for all of the outstanding equity of the acquired company. The final number of shares of our Class A common stock to be issued in connection with the acquisition is subject to adjustment based on (i) purchase price adjustment provisions, (ii) continuing service obligations to us of certain stockholders of the acquired company, and (iii) indemnification obligations of the acquired company stockholders after the closing of the acquisition.

The issuance of shares of the Company’s Class A common in connection with the acquisition is in reliance on the private offering exemption of Section 4(2) of the Securities Act and/or the private offering safe harbor provision of Rule 506 of Regulation D promulgated thereunder based on the following factors: (i) the number of offerees or purchasers, as applicable, (ii) the absence of general solicitation, (iii) representations obtained from the stockholders of the acquired company with respect to their status as accredited investors , (iv) the provision of appropriate disclosure, and (v) the placement of restrictive legends on the book entry entitlements reflecting the securities coupled with investment representations obtained from the stockholders of the acquired company being issued Class A common stock of LinkedIn.

b) Use of Proceeds from Public Offering of Common Stock

On May 24, 2011, we closed our IPO, in which we sold 6,003,804 shares of Class A common stock at a price to the public of $45.00 per share. The aggregate offering price for shares sold in the offering was approximately $270.2 million. The offer and sale of all of the shares in the IPO were registered under the Securities Act pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-171903), which was declared effective by the SEC on May 18, 2011. The offering commenced as of May 18, 2011 and did not terminate before all of the securities registered in the registration statement were sold. Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Incorporated, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Allen & Company LLC and UBS Securities LLC acted as the underwriters. We raised approximately $248.4 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions of approximately $17.9 million and other offering expenses of approximately $3.8 million. No payments were made by us to directors, officers or persons owning ten percent or more of our common stock or to their associates, or to our affiliates, other than payments in the ordinary course of business to officers for salaries, or as a result of sales of shares of common stock by selling stockholders in the offering. The proceeds are being used for working capital and general corporate purposes, and we invested the funds received in registered money market funds and U.S. treasury securities.

On November 22, 2011, we closed our follow-on offering, in which we sold 2,583,755 shares of Class A common stock at a price to the public of $71.00 per share. The aggregate offering price for shares sold in the offering was approximately $183.4 million. The offer and sale of all of the shares in the follow-on offering were registered under the Securities Act pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-177710), which was declared effective by the SEC on November 16, 2011. The offering commenced as of November 16, 2011 and did not terminate before all of the securities registered in the registration statement were sold. Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Merrill Lynch, Pierce,

 

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Fenner & Smith Incorporated, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Allen & Company LLC and UBS Securities LLC acted as the underwriters. We raised approximately $177.4 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions of approximately $5.3 million and other offering expenses of approximately $0.8 million. No payments were made by us to directors, officers or persons owning ten percent or more of our common stock or to their associates, or to our affiliates, other than payments in the ordinary course of business to officers for salaries, or as a result of sales of shares of common stock by selling stockholders in the offering.

The proceeds from the IPO and our follow-on offering have been used for working capital, sales and marketing activities, including further expansion of our product development and field sales organizations and general corporate purposes. We have broad discretion over the uses of the net proceeds and may use a portion for the acquisition of, or investment in, technologies, solutions or businesses that complement our business although we have no present commitments or agreements to enter into any material acquisitions or investments. There have been no material differences between the actual use of proceeds and intended use of proceeds as originally described in the IPO or follow-on offering. Based on our current cash and cash equivalents balance together with cash generated from operations, we do not expect that we will have to utilize any of the net proceeds to fund our operations during the next 12 months. Pending these uses, we intend to invest the net proceeds in short-term, investment-grade interest-bearing securities such as money market funds, certificates of deposit, commercial paper and guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government.

c) Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The table below provides information with respect to repurchases of unvested shares of our Class B common stock made pursuant the 2003 Plan. No shares of our Class A common stock were repurchased during the period.

 

Period

   Total
Number of
Shares
Purchased (1)
     Weighted
Average
Price Paid
per Share
     Total
Number of
Shares
Purchased as
Part of
Publicly
Announced
Plans or
Programs
     Maximum
Number of
Shares that
May Yet Be
Purchased
Under the
Plans or
Programs
 

April 1 – April 30, 2012

     80,710       $ 2.15         —           —     

May 1 – May 31, 2012

     521         6.20         —           —     

June 1 – June 30, 2012

     —           —           —           —     
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

Total

     81,231       $ 2.17         —        
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

(1) Under the 2003 Plan, participants may exercise options prior to vesting, subject to a right of a repurchase by us. All shares in the above table were shares repurchased as a result of us exercising this right and not pursuant to a publicly announced plan or program.

Item 5. Other Information

None.

Item 6. Exhibits

 

Exhibit

Number

     
  31.1    Certification of Principal Executive Officer Required Under Rule 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
  31.2    Certification of Principal Financial Officer Required Under Rule 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
  32.1    Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer Required Under Rule 13a-14(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and 18 U.S.C. §1350.
101.INS††    XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH††    XBRL Taxonomy Schema Linkbase Document

 

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101.CAL††    XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF††    XBRL Taxonomy Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB††    XBRL Taxonomy Labels Linkbase Document
101.PRE††    XBRL Taxonomy Presentation Linkbase Document

 

†† In accordance with Rule 406T of Regulation S-T, the information in these exhibits is furnished and deemed not filed or part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933, is deemed not filed for purposes of section 18 of the Exchange Act of 1934, and otherwise is not subject to liability under these sections.

 

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Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

    LINKEDIN CORPORATION
Dated: August 3, 2012     By:  

/s/    Jeffrey Weiner

      Jeffrey Weiner
     

Chief Executive Officer and Director

(Principal Executive Officer)

Dated: August 3, 2012     By:  

/s/    Steven Sordello

      Steven Sordello
     

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial Officer)

 

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Exhibit Index

 

Exhibit

Number

     
  31.1    Certification of Principal Executive Officer Required Under Rule 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
  31.2    Certification of Principal Financial Officer Required Under Rule 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
  32.1    Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer Required Under Rule 13a-14(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and 18 U.S.C. §1350.
101.INS††    XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH††    XBRL Taxonomy Schema Linkbase Document
101.CAL††    XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF††    XBRL Taxonomy Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB††    XBRL Taxonomy Labels Linkbase Document
101.PRE††    XBRL Taxonomy Presentation Linkbase Document

 

†† In accordance with Rule 406T of Regulation S-T, the information in these exhibits is furnished and deemed not filed or part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933, is deemed not filed for purposes of section 18 of the Exchange Act of 1934, and otherwise is not subject to liability under these sections.

 

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