LinkedIn is letting employees sell up to twenty percent of their vested stock options at a $500 million valuation, I’ve learned from a source. Another source tells me that the plan was announced at a recent company meeting, but they didn’t give me the details.
Incidentally, Facebook is letting its employees sell off a portion of their vested stock, we heard earlier today.
This moves comes at a time when private companies are finding it more difficult to go public or be acquired. With the stock market woes in recent months, previously prospective acquirers — publicly-traded tech companies — are feeling less wealthy, because their own market values have fallen and they need to watch costs.
Also, bankers are telling companies like LinkedIn and Facebook that they’ll need more revenue than previously in order to go public. More on the order of $200 million than $100 million, from our understanding.
Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn says it’s making $100 million in annual revenue (Facebook is reportedly projecting three times that much for this year). Like Facebook, LinkedIn plans to go public at some undetermined point in the future. The business networking site has meanwhile been growing fast in the US and around the world this past year.
But employees at LinkedIn and Facebook have been hard at work for years, and some are most certainly getting antsy, hoping to trade in their stock for cash. Both companies are competing with smaller and larger tech companies that can offer competitive packages using cash rather than stock options as employment incentive.
LinkedIn, like Facebook, isn’t commenting about its employee stock option plans.
10:45 pm
LinkedIn Worth $500 Million? said:
[...] Eldon has been pulling sources out of his hat today. The latest one claims that LinkedIn employees have been given a similar agreement to Facebook in which they can sell up [...]
12:08 am
Weighing Business Against Friendship: Exactly Why Is Facebook Valuated That Much Higher Than LinkedIn? - Profy.Com said:
[...] Eldon over at VentureBeat has two interesting posts today about both Facebook and LinkedIn allowing their employees to sell up to 20% of their stock options in each of the respective [...]
2:19 am
Linkedin | Bronte Media said:
[...] how employees of LinkedIn would have felt when management took the jumbo round rather than the IPO. Now from VentureBeat: “LinkedIn is letting employees sell up to twenty percent of their vested stock options at a [...]
2:56 am
LinkedIn Valued at $500 million - brandUNITY Blogs on Branding said:
[...] Venturebeat.com [...]
3:30 am
Edgelings.com » Dawn Patrol–AOL OUT, LinkedIn In (the Money), San Jose, Bags, Beijing said:
[...] LinkedIn, like Facebook, is allowing employees to sell stock at an internal valuation: http://venturebeat.com/2008/08/04/linkedin-like-facebook-is-letting-employees-sell-some-stock-early/ [...]
4:22 am
Lack of an IPO market makes it hard for stock option plans and weird things happen said:
[...] Very little and that is why in this dry IPO period, companies like Facebook and LinkedIn are allowing employees to sell vested stock privately. As a tech entrepreneur and CEO of Fon I find this practice at odds [...]
6:43 am
Facebook y LinkedIn autorizan cash out - Foros de CHW said:
[...] que dice: "Ya que se desinfl
12:45 pm
Employees unloading stock options? It's the hot new thing | Blogging said:
[...] Eldon, who also originally reported the Facebook tidbit, says that LinkedIn employees are going to have the option of doing the same. The business social network, Eldon wrote, is allowing current employees to sell 20% of their [...]
1:26 pm
Music & Cinema. » Employees unloading stock options? It's the hot new thing said:
[...] Eldon, who also originally reported the Facebook tidbit, says that LinkedIn employees are going to have the option of doing the same. The business social network, Eldon wrote, is allowing current employees to sell 20 percent of [...]
5:18 pm
.: GAFNO.com - Hot World News Blog :. » Blog Archive » Employees unloading stock options? It’s the hot new thing said:
[...] Eldon, who also originally reported the Facebook tidbit, says that LinkedIn employees are going to have the option of doing the same. The business social network, Eldon wrote, is allowing current employees to sell 20 percent of [...]
5:20 pm
Employees unloading stock options? It’s the hot new thing | Poncheg.com - State & Community News Blog said:
[...] Eldon, who also originally reported the Facebook tidbit, says that LinkedIn employees are going to have the option of doing the same. The business social network, Eldon wrote, is allowing current employees to sell 20 percent of [...]
11:25 pm
Employees unloading stock options? It’s the hot new thing | money news blog said:
[...] Eldon, who also originally reported the Facebook tidbit, says that LinkedIn employees are going to have the option of doing the same. The business social network, Eldon wrote, is allowing current employees to sell 20 percent of [...]
11:56 am
More on Facebook employee stock sale: “Dozens” selling, “investment firms” buying » VentureBeat said:
[...] executives were selling some of their stock, and BusinessWeek hears employees started grumbling. Like LinkedIn, another hot web company that I’ve heard is letting employees sell some stock early, Facebook [...]
4:32 pm
Employees unloading stock options? It’s the hot new thing | money news blog said:
[...] Eldon, who also originally reported the Facebook tidbit, says that LinkedIn employees are going to have the option of doing the same. [...]