Zynga, Jive Software to head big IPO week

By Benjamin Pimentel 

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Eleven firms, including the social-gaming start-up Zynga, are expected to launch as publicly traded companies next week, in potentially the busiest IPO week in four years.


Zynga leads the pack as the latest in a wave of social-media initial public offerings. Also drawing attention is Jive Software, a social business-software-platform company, and Michael Kors Holdings, the luxury fashion company.


If all firms push ahead with their IPOs, it would make next week the busiest since November 2007, when 13 companies made their public trading debuts in a single week, according to Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at IPO Boutique.


Sweet noted that next Thursday will be particularly crowded, with six deals expected to launch.


"That's going to make it very difficult for all six to get equal eyeballs," Sweet said. "Only the best will get attention, as it always should be. When you have six in a day, that's really heavy."


He allowed that market uncertainty may still lead to changes in the schedule. Three deals were scheduled to debut this Thursday but were pulled, the companies citing market conditions. Still, Sweet said, "I expect it to be a very active week."


Zynga's position among those on deck is a key reason. The San Francisco-based tech company, which is offering 100 million shares at a price range of $8.50 to $10, is set to raise as much as $1 billion. That would make Zynga's offering the biggest Internet IPO since Google Inc.'s (GOOG, Trade ) launch in 2004, according to Renaissance Capital.

In a sign of the growing prominence of social-media IPOs, Jive Software also is expected to enjoy a strong debut. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company makes software to help businesses set up their own social networks. It had total revenue of $54.8 million for the nine-month period ended Sept. 30 -- up 73% from the same period last year. Net losses totaled $38.1 million for the recent nine-month period.

Jive is offering 11.7 million shares at a price range of $8 to $10. The stock is expected to begin trading Tuesday.

Other firms in Internet and social-media segments have already made their debuts this year. LinkedIn (LNKD, Trade ) made its IPO in May, while Groupon (GRPN, Trade ) and Angie's List (ANGI, Trade ) debuted last month.

Another relatively high-profile IPO for next week is that of Michael Kors Holdings, the fashion design company, which is offering 41.7 million shares at a range of $17 to $19.

Other companies expected to go public are five oil or energy companies: Bonanza Creek Energy, Sanchez Energy Corp., Mid-Con Energy Partners, Inergy Midstream and Laredo Petroleum.

Also going public are Luxfer Holdings, a materials technology company; FusionStorm Global, which offers information technology hardware, software and services to businesses; and GSE Holding, a maker of containment products in mining, waste management and environmental protection.

The Social Media Stock Market: LinkedIn Feels the Analyst Love!

The Social Media Stock Market: LinkedIn Feels the Analyst Love!: By Chris Dieterich Look who’s suddenly more bullish on LinkedIn . Analysts at J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to buy ...

The Social Media Stock Market: LinkedIn has defied the odds!

The Social Media Stock Market: LinkedIn has defied the odds!: Ken Sena, an analyst with Evercore Partners. said that despite LinkedIn's (LNKD) influx of insider shares on the market, ''there are some s...

LinkedIn Feels the Analyst Love!

By Chris Dieterich

Look who’s suddenly more bullish on LinkedIn.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to buy today, while Bank of America analysts bolstered their standing buy rating by raising 2012 earnings estimates.

All were underwriters of LinkedIn’s May IPO.

LinkedIn shares have suffered over the past month in part because the number of the company’s freely tradable shares roughly tripled, from about 8 million to 29 million, after a secondary offering and the expiration of a prohibition that bars employees and some early investors from selling shares.

Morgan Stanley sets the Street’s tallest price target at $100, saying: ”We see this weakness as a buying opportunity as the company appears to be firing on all cylinders in each of its three business segments.”

LinkedIn shares rise on J.P. Morgan upgrade!

By Dan Gallagher




SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of LinkedIn Corp. LNKD rose more than 4.5% to $73.12 on Tuesday(12/6) morning after the business-focused social network was upgraded to an overweight rating by J.P. Morgan. In a note to clients, analyst Doug Anmuth said the shares are "more compelling at current levels." LinkedIn shares had fallen about 25% since late October. "However, the company has shown strong operational performance and we believe deeper corporate penetration and increasing member engagement will drive strong results going forward,"

IPO Underwriters More Bullish On LinkedIn

 Look who's more bullish on LinkedIn (LNKD). JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley upgrade the stock to buy, while BofA piles onto its buy rating by raise 2012 earnings estimates. All were underwriters of LinkedIn's May IPO. LNKD has suffered over the last month in part because its freely tradable shares roughly tripled, from about 8M to 29M, after a secondary offering and the expiration of a prohibition that bars employees and some early investors from selling shares. Morgan Stanley sets the Street's tallest price target at $100: "We see this weakness as a buying opportunity as the company appears to be firing on all cylinders in each of its three business segments." 

Zynga Sets 100M-Share IPO At $8.50-$10/Shr

By Lynn Cowan 

Online games developer Zynga Inc. set the terms of its planned initial public offering Friday, seeking as much as $1 billion by selling 100 million shares at a price between $8.50 and $10.

At the $10 end of its IPO range, Zynga commands a valuation of nearly $7 billion, according to an updated prospectus filed Friday.

The company is best known for such social games as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, played on Facebook's social networking website. Zynga is scheduled to launch its marketing road show Monday, and expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ZNGA" by Dec. 16.

Zynga's IPO is smaller than what the company originally hoped it could obtain from the public markets. When it first filed to go public in July, it was seeking to raise $2 billion with a valuation of $20 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

But the proportion of the stock it is floating in the IPO is a bit larger than at many other Internet-related IPOs in recent months. The company plans to sell about 14.3% of its outstanding shares, compared to the 5.5% offered by Groupon Inc. (GRPN) and 11% offered by Angie's List Inc. (ANGI), excluding over-allotment options.

When Zynga first filed its IPO plans, it was part of a rush of technology offerings hitting the market. Professional networking site LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) doubled on its first day of trading in May and real estate website Zillow Inc. (Z) gained 79% in July.

But the steep market selloff that hit in August led both the daily deals site, Groupon, and Zynga, as well as many others, to hold off on their IPOs because of the high level of investor jitters.

Groupon, which priced above its expected range last month and rose nearly 31% on its first day of trading, is currently beneath its IPO price. Angie's List, which priced at the high end of its range and gained 25% during its debut last month, is also below its IPO price of $13 a share. Zillow has given back almost all its gains since July; it is now 8% above its IPO price, compared to its 79% pop months ago.

But Zynga differs from the others in several ways. Neither Groupon, Zillow nor Angie's list were profitable when they debuted, and there have been concerns raised about the amount that Groupon and Angie's List must spend to market themselves to new users.

Zynga's top line revenue is growing swiftly, but it has also been booking profits since last year. Its games are free to play, so it makes its money primarily by selling virtual goods to players, and also through advertising. In the first nine months of the year, its total revenue doubled to $829 million from the same period a year earlier. Its net income declined 35% to $31 million during the same time, solely on higher income taxes; income before income taxes was up 48% at $82 million.

Although Zynga's games are available on other social networks and mobile platforms, substantially all its revenue is derived from Facebook-accessing players. It has the largest player audience on Facebook, with more monthly active users than the next eight social game developers combined, according to AppData, an independent service that tracks application traffic on Facebook.

An obvious risk for Zynga is its reliance on Facebook, which has a lot of muscle when it comes to changing its rules for applications that appear on its platform. The social media site now requires apps to use Facebook's proprietary payment method, Facebook Credits, as the primary means of payment collection. As a result, Facebook now receives a greater share of payments made by Zynga's players than it did when other payment options were allowed.

Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) are managing Zynga's IPO.

The Social Media Stock Market: The New Wave of Investing!

The Social Media Stock Market: The New Wave of Investing!: The Social Media Stock Market! By Steven Friley I have been following LinkedIn ( lnkd ) a social media company , since May 18th, 2...

The Social Media Stock Market: LinkedIn Valuation!

The Social Media Stock Market: LinkedIn Valuation!: LinkedIn – Analysis are Improving – Valuation Based on “The People Principle” LinkedIn Climbing Again as Answers to Much Need Valuation ...

Facebook Eyes $100 Billion Valuation in '12 IPO.

Facebook is reportedly targeting an initial public offering of $10 billion as early as April that would value the social-networking king at a whopping $100 billion.

The gaudy numbers being floated around for the potential IPO underscore the enormous anticipation  for a Facebook IPO, which has spawned great demand for offerings of other next-generation Internet companies like Groupon (GRPN) and LinkedIn (LNKD).

According to The Wall Street Journal, after resisting calls to go public for years, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook is targeting a time frame of April to June 2012 for an IPO.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who would make an estimated $24 billion if the company IPO’d with a $100 billion market cap, is warming to the idea of going public, but hasn’t made any final decisions, the paper reported.

Still, the company is in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the timing of its filing and is considering filing dates as early as this year, the Journal reported.

A $100 billion valuation would mark the largest IPO price tag ever by a tech or Internet company. It would easy dwarf the largest U.S. Internet IPO: Google’s (GOOG) 2004 debut that valued the search company at $23 billion.

The Social Media Stock Market: Facebook looking at $100b IPO!

The Social Media Stock Market: Facebook looking at $100b IPO!: Facebook preparing $100B IPO Joining LinkedIn as the newly forming Social Media Stock Market is BUILDING MOMENTUM! By Steven Friley ...

Gains In Near Future?

LinkedIn (LNKD) the most hyped stock of the Social Media Stocks, and definitely the most volatile. The stock took the market by storm when it more than doubled on the day of its IPO with a mindboggling market cap of nearly $12 billion and a price of $122.70. The stock then declined by nearly 50% in approximately one month, only to recover with very strong gains.

There have been many analysts to warn investors of this stock because of its high valuation compared to its fundamentals. Yet, because of its fast growth, investors have ignored and have continued to buy the stock regardless of its high valuation. They see the true value here.

There is more here then just fundamentals at work here, and what will the growth look like when the economy turns around! Investors see this potential as well as further acquisitions.

Facebooks Potential Fall IPO Filing Will Provide Insight on Needed Valuation!

Speculation is rising that Facebook might file for an IPO before 2012 itself. While valuations for the company have gone to as high as $100 billion in private markets, an initial registration statement is all it takes to provide a much clearer picture of how Facebook’s metrics are faring. Facebook leads in the global social networking arena, competing with the likes of LinkedIn (NASDAQ:LNKD) and MySpace.

LinkedIn has defied the odds!

Ken Sena, an analyst with Evercore Partners. said that despite LinkedIn's (LNKD) influx of insider shares on the market, ''there are some strong believers in the overall growth story here''.

At the outset, LinkedIn sold a small number of shares - less than 10 per cent of the total. This dearth of stock helped stoke initial demand and buffer the stock price.

On their first day of trading, LinkedIn shares jumped to $US94.25 each, from $US45.

Other technology start-ups have since followed LinkedIn's example. This month, Groupon sold 35 million shares in its initial public offering, roughly 5 per cent of the overall pool. The three-year-old daily-deals site sold its shares for $US20 but they had risen to $US26.11 by the close on the first day.

But a sudden infusion of shares into the market can dampen investor interest. In July, shares of web publishing company Demand Media dropped by more than 7 per cent after its insiders were allowed to sell their stakes.

When Google's stock lock-up ended in 2004, the company's share price dropped by 6.7 per cent.

i ASK “IS GOOGLE THE ONLY EXCEPTION ALLOWED, OR WILL LINKEDIN (LNKD) STEP UP AS THE NEW BIG BROTHER IN TOWN?”

LinkedIn has defied the odds. Attributing factor may be the 100 million subscribers.


In Comparison to Google, LinkedIn comes in with a price tag of $45.00 and 94 million shares, sporting 100 million users or (1 new user per second) as the CEO reports. The opportunity for growth is phenomenal! Debunking every negative rumor LinkedIn has remained stable. Investors are hungry for stocks they can understand and relate to and Social Media connects the investors with each other on a very personal yet professional level. Professional’s trained in evaluating the value of stocks seem to remain in a cloud of confusion as to how to evaluate the Social Media Stock Market.

Investors imagine a big payoff from social-media stocks!

Investors imagine a big payoff from social-media stocks, spurred by the hot initial public offerings of social-media stocks such as Groupon (GRPN, Trade ) and LinkedIn (LNKD, Trade ). They're expecting to cash in whenever Twitter, Facebook and others go public.

Then there are the plays such as Nutrisystem and Google that maybe touch on social media but aren't necessarily social media stocks. For someone looking for a pure play on social media, part of the idea is that all stocks in the sector should benefit when a popular company like Facebook goes public and makes a big splash. It's hard to see how or why Nutrisystem makes the connection (having cool apps probably should not be enough), or how the social-media component of Google will move the giant stock.

Google, one of the top 10 holdings in the Global X fund, also highlights another fundamental concern for investors -- while they can't necessarily get a pure play on social media companies, they'll find issues like Google and Sina in plain-vanilla technology funds. That kind of fund will be less volatile than a niche issue.

LinkedIn Stock Sale Sees Strong Demand!

LinkedIn Stock Sale Sees Strong Demand!



NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--LinkedIn Corp.'s (LNKD) share price jumped as much as 7.2%, even after the company added more equity to the market, as investors still appear interested in purchasing the social-networking company despite concerns about the stock's valuation. 


About eight million LinkedIn shares came to market Thursday, with 1.3 million coming from the company and 6.7 million from insiders and early holders. The secondary offering, which followed the company's successful debut in May, roughly doubled the company's float, or the number of its shares available for trading. 


The supply of LinkedIn shares is set to continue rising as lock-up agreements requiring insiders to hold their shares are set to expire in coming months. 


The company made $92.3 million from the sale of its 1.3 million shares. LinkedIn has said the stock sale was designed to bolster its "capitalization and financial flexibility" as well as increase its public float. 

LinkedIn's shares have had a wild ride since its initial public offering priced at $45. The stock more than doubled on its first day and closed as high as $109.97 in mid-July before falling to the low $70s in August amid broad market turmoil. 

LinkedIns Stock Sale Could Signal Resource Crunch

The secondary offering of around 1.3 million new shares can send out a signal that LinkedIn intends to pursue heavy marketing investments in the near future as well, requiring additional cash sources for the same.


In addition to its growth outlook, the public float will essentially double with this secondary offering, which could weigh on the share price from the perceived overhang of future sales while providing more shares available for shorting. To short, traders need to borrow the shares and the small float so far has been this difficult for any large funds to undertake.


Since it went public, LinkedIn has incurred significant marketing and promotion related expenses, which have contributed a big role in the steep expansion in its subscriber base. For the first 9 months of 2010 and 2011, marketing expenses grew from 24% to around 32% as a percentage of revenue.

LinkedIn Pricing of Its Follow-On Offering

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD) announced the pricing of 8,750,000 shares of its Class A common stock at $71.00 per share in a follow-on public offering. In addition, the underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,312,500 additional shares of Class A common stock from LinkedIn to cover over-allotments, if any. LinkedIn will sell approximately 1,300,000 shares in the offering; the remaining shares will be sold by existing stockholders. As part of the underwriting procedures, all selling stockholders, as well as all officers and directors, have agreed to lock-up agreements for a period of 90 days following the offering.

The principal purposes of this offering are to raise capital for the company, facilitate an orderly distribution of shares and increase the company's public float. The proceeds of the primary portion of the offering will be used to provide additional working capital for LinkedIn, including further expansion of its product development and field sales organizations, for capital expenditures and potential strategic acquisitions or investments.

LinkedIn outlines details of secondary offering

LinkedIn outlines details of secondary offering 


By Rex Crum






SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- LinkedIn Corp. has given an idea of just who will benefit from its upcoming secondary stock offering, as the online professional networking company updated its plans to sell 8 million shares six months after its high-profile IPO debut.


In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, LinkedIn (LNKD, Trade) said company officials and early investors plan to sell 6.7 million shares. The company itself with sell about 1.3 million shares, which would net a little under $93 million based on the stock's last trading price.


The stock sales will nearly double the amount of LinkedIn shares outstanding to 17.4 million shares.


The company said its SEC filing that it will use the proceeds of its sales "for working capital and general corporate purposes, including further expansion of our product development and field sales organizations, and for capital expenditures." LinkedIn also said it may use a portion of the proceeds for acquisitions or investments in "complementary businesses, technologies or other assets."


However, LinkedIn's founder and Chairman, Reid Hoffman, didn't file to sell any of his almost 19 million shares, and will remain the company's largest shareholder with almost 22% of LinkedIn's stock.


Since going public with an IPO at $45 a share in May, LinkedIn's stock as closed as high as $109.97 on July 15.

Social Media Get An ETF, With Heavy International Exposure

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Investors in the first exchange-traded fund for social media--set to be launched on Tuesday--will not only buy into Groupon Inc. (GRPN), LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) and similar companies, but will also get significant international exposure, particularly to China.

The Global X Social Media Index exchange-traded fund is expected to start trading Nov. 15 on the Nasdaq, under the symbol SOCL. Tracking 25 stocks, including some of this year's most closely watched initial public offerings, the fund aims to be "a pretty simple way to make sure you're exposed to the full sector," said Global X Funds chief executive Bruno del Ama in an interview. It also promises a more volatile ride than broader technology ETFs. During Friday's light-volume stock-market surge, the Nasdaq Composite gained 2%, but LinkedIn rose 2.7%, characteristic of the exaggerated moves seen in brand-new tech stocks that face considerable growth expectations.

Investors' hopes for social-media stocks have surged this year amid well-received initial public offerings such as LinkedIn's, but the public markets still don't have Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., the twin heavyweights of U.S. social media.

That is one reason the Global X ETF will have a surprisingly high international exposure. At least for the time being, there is more exposure to Chinese social-media companies than to Silicon Valley, since large social-media companies are in several cases more established in public markets overseas.


-By Brendan Conway, Dow Jones Newswires

Update:

The ETF is slated to add new social-media stocks after their IPOs, and won't be able to buy them beforehand, meaning it won't benefit from the first-day pop seen in several of this year's social-media offerings. LinkedIn soared 109% on its first day of trading in May. It will be seeded with $1.5 million in capital ahead of Tuesday's open, a Global X representative said.

LinkedIn: 2011 Technology Award Winner

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Nov. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation have been named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year,  2011 Technology Award winners. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year is the country's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial success and personal commitment as they create and build world-class businesses.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/53268-ernst-and-young-eoy-technology-winner.

Linkedin: Could lead the game!

Linkedin (LNKD) generated $243 million revenue in 2010 with market capitalization as high as $8 billion. Its trailing P/E ratio was a high 477. Because social networking sites are relatively new and hard to value. Facebook's popularity seemed to convince investors that Linkedin will follow the same path. There are many new social networking startup companies to try entering this market. 

Analysts estimated next year's growth of 1,066.7% for Linkedin compared to industry growth rate of 26.10% and S&P of 14.80%.


Low interest rates enable many startup companies to enter into the market. A few leaders are expected to remain and lead the game.

The Social Media Stock Market: The New Wave of Investing!

The Social Media Stock Market: The New Wave of Investing!: The Social Media Stock Market! By Steven Friley I have been following LinkedIn ( lnkd ) a social media company , scene May 18th, 20...

How LinkedIn is Driving Higher Engagement Levels!

LinkedIn has shown a strong record this quarter of introducing newer and simpler features such as the “Apply with LinkedIn” feature and “Company Status Updates“. 


Consequently, I don’t expect user engagement to suffer as a result of the fast growth in the company’s subscriber base, as LinkedIn should keep both users and employers busy with new products in the offing. At the end of the day, competitors have to be on their toes as the company keeps capturing a larger share of the recruitment market.

The New Wave of Investing!

The Social Media Stock Market!


By Steven Friley

I have been following  LinkedIn (lnkd) a social media company, since May 18th, 2011, in what has been a floundering stock market. LinkedIn had continued to sustain a price above $63 a share through this uncertainty. Social Media Stocks would seem to be the new opportunities in an uncertain market.

Social Media is a commodity of people. LinkedIn was the first of its kind, but diffidently it won't be the last. With Facebook and Zinga preparing to launch their IPO's sometime in the near future, which will change the landscape of The Stock Market as we know it.

LinkedIn has shown  growth in both numbers and members sense it's explosive entrance on to the stock market, and how can that not continue, you look at the numbers.

LinkedIn has raised 93 million in recent weeks with Reid Hoffman founder and chairman, holding on to all of his almost 19  million shares, what does he know that we don't? Why is LinkedIn doubling it's headquarters?


Could LinkedIn and Monster merge? To rival any job seeking company in the world, only time will tell, but growth seems to be the name of the game.