LinkedIn dumped by biggest sugar daddy

Professional networking firm LinkedIn has upped its follow-on share sale from 8 million shares to 8.75 million in a bid to raise around $92.3m for the company coffers.

At the start of the month, the web firm said it was selling more shares to increase its capital and its public float.

Yesterday, LinkedIn said it had priced the offering at $71 a share and it would be selling around 1.3 million, giving the company somewhere in the region of $90m to "provide additional working capital for LinkedIn, including further expansion of its product development and field sales organisations, for capital expenditures and potential strategic acquisitions or investments".

The remaining shares will be sold by existing stockholders, so LinkedIn "will not receive any proceeds" from these, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The largest sale from stockholders is coming from Bain Capital, which is getting rid of all its stock in LinkedIn, 3.7 million shares.

Execs and directors from the company, including CEO Jeffrey Weiner, are selling off a combined 2.2 million shares.

And entities relating to Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock Partners – which invests in start-ups and growth stage companies – are offloading 1.4 million shares, 10 per cent of their stake. ®