IPO OUTLOOK: Other Deals Depend On Groupon's Debut

By Lynn Cowan



While Groupon Inc. executives are focused on how their upcoming IPO will fare, everyone else on Wall Street is thinking about how the deal could affect as many as a dozen other companies hoping to launch in its wake.

Groupon's initial public offering, which is scheduled to begin trading Nov. 4 on the Nasdaq under the symbol GRPN, has drawn a lot of attention during the company's road show marketing rounds. The events have been heavily attended, but the deal is getting generally negative reviews from analysts heading into the final leg before its pricing.

Although Groupon pared its third quarter loss to $10.6 million from $101.2 million in the second quarter by cutting its marketing costs, its increase in revenue slowed considerably to just under 10%, hardly the kind of top-line numbers that growth investors seek. Additional criticism has been leveled at Groupon for issues ranging from its management style to the use of unusual accounting metrics that were eventually knocked out of its prospectus by regulators.

Morningstar Inc. said in a research note this week that it believes Groupon intentionally cut back on marketing in the third quarter to improve its bottom line headed into the IPO, and looking ahead, the company must choose between profitability and rapid revenue growth because "we think the two are mutually exclusive."

The company's financial metrics suggest that Groupon "is today's Webvan," says Francis Gaskins, president of research site IPOdesktop.com, referring one of the more prominent dot-com flops.

That's not to say anyone is ruling out a good first day performance by Groupon. The 14 investment banks involved in the deal have a stable of other companies that they'd also like to take public in the weeks to come, and a poor showing by Groupon could chill investor interest in other new issues.

The deal is certainly structured to work: the company's valuation has been cut from original estimates of $20 billion to $11.4 billion. Its price-to-sales ratio is 6.3, below other web-based IPOs like LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD),Pandora Media Inc. (P) and Zillow Inc. (Z), though its price-to-book-value ratio is 23 times, slightly above those three, says Gaskins, using annualized estimates based on the most recent quarterly results.

Only 30 million shares are being sold, excluding an overallotment option that underwriters could exercise, or 4.7% of the total shares outstanding, an incredibly small float for such a large company [Most IPOs over $100 million sell more than 15%]. Such a tight hand over available shares is designed to ensure there will be enough demand to support the stock on the first day--and weeks afterward.

In the last decade, there have been 22 companies that have floated less than 10% of their shares while raising at least $100 million in an IPO, and all but one has traded up on its first day, according to Greenwich, Conn.-based Renaissance Capital.

"This has been one of the more controversial names we've seen," said Paul Bard, a director of research at Renaissance Capital. "But there's a high probability that the deal not only gets done, but that it trades reasonably well afterward."

OBJE Closes in on Acquisition of Social Media Analytics Firm

SARASOTA, Fla., Oct 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Obscene Interactive, LLC, (OBJE, Trade ) announced today that the company is closing in on an acquisition of A-Plus Technologies, an emerging social media analytics firm.






A-Plus Technologies utilizes proprietary algorithms to collect valuable consumer trends and data from global social media platforms in real time. This data allows clients to better market their products to their customers and enables the businesses to manage their brand in ways never before possible. Acquiring A-Plus Technologies' game-changing business model and expertise is a key strategy in Obscene Interactive's efforts to capture early market share in the $10 billion social media market.

"A-Plus Technologies' innovative technology enables clients to target their customers with precision," said OBJE CEO Rachel Stark-Cappelli. "Recent acquisitions in the social media metrics space are approaching valuations not seen since the dot com era. There is incredible excitement in this emerging technology sector and A-Plus is an early mover with a proprietary algorithm that we believe will place us at the forefront of a business sector with unlimited possibilities."

OBJE plans to finalize the acquisition later this week.

Obscene Interactive is a division of Obscene Jeans Corp. that develops innovative technology tools to service the fast-growing social media sector alongside companies such as Linkedin Corp. (LNKD, Trade ), Pandora Media Inc. (P, Trade ), Cisco Systems (CSCO, Trade ) and Move Inc. (MOVE, Trade ).

Companies Schizophrenic on Social Media Policy

Many businesses are expecting to boost their advertising on social media sites to better reach customers while at the same time locking out their employees from accessing those sites. This corporate schizophrenia surrounding social media is likely to continue in the short run, although the need to advertise is likely to trump security concerns in the long run, helping the long-term value of companies like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) and others. This also creates opportunities in the global security software market for for providers like Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) and McAfee, which is now part Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).

Nasdaq Fights Back In Social-Media Listings Fray With NYSE!

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ) is rediscovering its sweet spot, landing three big technology-related listings in recent days as the exchange operator fights to reclaim ground lost to arch rival NYSE Euronext (NYX).

Discount website Groupon Inc., game developer Zynga Inc. and planned Expedia (EXPE) spin-off TripAdvisor Inc. all have chosen in the last two weeks to list shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, handing the electronic marketplace some big wins -- after some major losses -- in the closely watched social-media sector.

Battles for these listings have included some of the hardest fought between the exchanges to date and give Nasdaq some breathing room against the Big Board, which earlier this year lured networking site LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. (P) and Chinese social networking site Renren Inc. (RENN). Nasdaq won the listing of real estate site Zillow Inc. (Z) and on Monday was picked by Jive Software Inc., which filed plans to go public in August.

Both NYSE and Nasdaq have revved up efforts to lure web- and mobile-based businesses this year as they position for the next round of social media flotations, which could include Angie's List, LivingSocial, Twitter and, the crown jewel, Facebook Inc.

"There's a momentum associated with social media companies, and there's a compounding effect for the exchange," said Jason Frankl, senior managing director and head of the listing advisory services group at FTI Consulting. "You don't just get the notoriety and the listing fees. You get data fees, a piece of the transaction fees. Your business model is dependent on first getting the listing and then the revenues."

The courtship of Groupon, initiated last spring, drew the chief executives of both exchange groups to the daily deals website's home base of Chicago. NYSE's Duncan Niederauer and Nasdaq OMX's Bob Greifeld both personally pitched their markets in June, according to people familiar with the matter.

The exchange operators outlined a slew of promotions and cobranding with other companies listed on their markets. Nasdaq secured victory by agreeing to raise visibility of Groupon's discount offers across a range of media, including the 72-foot billboard on its MarketSite in New York's Times Square, according to people familiar with the matter.

Nasdaq is seeking to bounce back after watching the Big Board outpace it in initial public offerings and listings transfers over the past two years.

Since January 2010, the NYSE and its Amex platform have landed nearly 130 IPOs worth $57 billion, according to Dealogic data, not counting special categories like real-estate investment trusts or closed-end funds. The comparable Nasdaq figures are nearly 110 flotations worth about $15 billion. Nasdaq also had 21 "best effort" deals with proceeds of $1 billion.

Meanwhile, NYSE has come out ahead in the battle for companies that are already listed. Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) and Imax Corp. (IMAX) are two of nine listings to transfer away from Nasdaq to the NYSE this year, versus Nasdaq's win of one company from the Amex and another that spun off from NYSE-listed Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC).

2010 also leaned to NYSE, following a 2009 when Nasdaq cleaned up, grabbing telecom behemoth Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) and taking more NYSE listings than it lost.

"We're going to continue to be very aggressive and we're going to put up wins. We're not going to win every single deal," said Scott Cutler, NYSE Euronext executive vice president. "The market for IPOs is [more than] Groupon and Zynga and two other social media deals."
Neither company was about to predict that they're ready to land Facebook, the most coveted of the social-media companies.

"At the end of the day, I'm sure Facebook will speak with both of us before they make a final decision," said Bob McCooey, senior vice president at Nasdaq OMX Corporate Client Group. "We certainly think that the continued success of Nasdaq in technology and specifically in the social media space helps."

Both companies are also looking to keep momentum as a new competitor, Kansas City-based BATS Global Markets, prepares to enter the fray in December with a low-cost offering that will offer free listings to companies that abandon their existing exchange for the six-year-old electronic platform.

-By Brendan Conway and Jacob Bunge

Mr. Markets Lovin LinkedIn!

Mr. Markets Lovin LinkedIn 

After volatile market conditions pushed down LinkedIn’s (NYSE:LNKD) stock to around $73 last week, unabated enthusiasm by shareholders could help boost the stock back to prior levels. While LinkedIn continues to dominate the online job search market over companies like Monster (NYSE:MWW), the debate continues on whether the company is correctly valued!

You be the judge;

Social Media connects the world on a global grid. Never before in our history have we as a collective people, been able to reach across the world to a new market to show our product or service. Virtual professionals are showing their talents, creating their own financial abundance, and shining despite the  media stating we are in a downward economic spiral. 


The economy is a state of mind which can be altered with effort. When we develop the mindset of success and abandon the mindset of scarcity or failure, our world will thrive. Social Media makes this happen. There is great power in the numbers of a billion voices saying “We are ready to take control of our future”.

LinkedIn Expands Into Japan!

LinkedIn Expands Into Japan 

Oct 20, 2011 00:30:11 (ET)






TOKYO -- LinkedIn, (LNKD, Trade ) the world's largest professional network with more than 120 million members worldwide, today announced that LinkedIn is now available in Japanese and has opened an office in Shibuya, Tokyo. The new Japan office will provide support for increasing awareness and adoption of LinkedIn in Japan, with a focus on member engagement and growth, product development, strategic partnerships and general operations.
LinkedIn is a professional network focused entirely on the professional workforce with members that span across more than 200 countries and territories (as of August 4, 2011). LinkedIn enables professionals to connect locally and globally to exchange knowledge, ideas and opportunities with a broader network of professionals around the world.

"Japan represents a huge opportunity for LinkedIn's growth and engagement and we are committed to delivering the best experience for Japanese professionals," said Arvind Rajan, managing director of APAC & Japan at LinkedIn. "With the tremendous talent pool and skill sets of Japanese professionals, LinkedIn will continue to foster a powerful and global exchange of information and opportunities that will help professionals around the world become more productive and successful at what they do every day. "

Features for Professionals

New LinkedIn members can access the site and create their LinkedIn Profile in Japanese by visiting http://jp.linkedin.com/ . New members will be able to build and manage their professional identity online by sharing their career updates and experiences, skills and capabilities, education and recommendations by their industry peers. A LinkedIn profile is also a great way for professionals to take control of the first impression people have when they search for a person online, as the LinkedIn profile likely surfaces at the top of any Internet search results. Creating a LinkedIn profile is free and available to all professionals.

By creating a LinkedIn profile and establishing a professional network, professionals will have direct access to communicate and collaborate with other LinkedIn members, such as colleagues, business partners, clients, and alumni to share important insights that will help them be more productive and successful in their jobs. Japanese members will also have access to products like Groups, where they can collaborate with industry peers in Japan and around the world to solve problems or share important best practices around topics and issues of interest.

Products such as the Homepage and LinkedIn Signal can also help professionals gather rich insights about what professionals are saying, commenting on, and sharing with their professional peers in real-time. Signal allows professionals to filter LinkedIn's member updates by using search facets, such as location, company, industry and more, in order to glean just the relevant pieces of information from a constant stream of updates.

Japanese professionals will also have the option to upgrade their free account to a premium account to leverage features, such as increased InMails, and better organization of important profiles and search functions.

Features for Companies

Japanese companies have many ways to promote, market and present their organizations to millions of LinkedIn members around the world. One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating a Company Page, which is being used by more than 2 million companies worldwide today. LinkedIn's Company Pages can be created and managed in Japanese, and with our new "status update" feature, companies now have the ability to have a direct dialogue with their followers to post updates on company news, new jobs, relevant industry articles, videos and more. More than 60 Japanese companies have already created a Company Page on LinkedIn.

Features for Students and New Professionals

Millions of students today are using LinkedIn around the world to build their professional identity and network, to help achieve their career goals by connecting with established professionals who can provide insights into relevant internship, job or business opportunities. Students can connect to fellow students to learn more about where they've landed jobs, reach out to alumni for advice and counsel, and leverage the networks of their parents, family, friends or mentors to get a head start on their career planning. Students can also gather important information about companies and industries using products like Groups, Signal and Company Pages to glean important information that can help them make better decisions about their career choices.

LinkedIn Announces Talent Pipeline

LinkedIn Announces Talent Pipeline: One Place for Recruiters to Grow, Track and Stay Connected With All Their Talent Leads 

Oct 18, 2011 12:00:10 (ET)





 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with more than 120 million members, today announced LinkedIn Talent Pipeline, a new solution for recruiters which will give them the ability to more easily manage all of their talent leads in one place, helping them recruit the best talent more quickly. The announcement was made onstage by LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner in front of more than 1,800 recruiting professionals at the company's Talent Connect customer event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With the rise of social media, recruiters are dealing with an increase in online networks as sources of talent who may not be actively seeking a new job. This is in addition to more traditional sources such as personal referrals, conferences, job boards and company career sites. This shift toward recruiting 'passive' talent gives recruiters access to a much larger pool of potential candidates with the right skills and experience than if they relied on active candidates alone. Talent Pipeline will allow recruiters to keep track of all of these potential candidates in one place, even before they enter the formal application process.
Speaking on the announcement, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner commented, "Recruiters are actively looking for more talent from more sources and managing all their talent leads across multiple tools. With LinkedIn Talent Pipeline, we're extending our Recruiter platform and continuing our focus to connect talent with opportunity on a massive scale by providing a single place to manage and update these leads, wherever they are found."
Because most passive candidates have not formally applied for a job, they are not tracked in a company's Applicant Tracking System (ATS). As a result, many recruiters are simply tracking leads in their own spreadsheets - a tool designed for crunching numbers, not tracking, nurturing and collaborating on recruitment.
James Holincheck, Managing Vice President of Human Capital Management at Gartner, commented, "One of the most frequent things we hear from enterprises today is a desire to better manage the increasing number of talent sources. Recruiters know that passive candidates are an important source of talent and want better tools to capture this opportunity."
Today, companies that try to create a separate database for leads spend significant time and effort to implement a new system and process, only to find they haven't solved the problem of stale information. The moment someone changes a title, job or location, the original lead or resume is out-of-date and the database becomes less valuable. LinkedIn Talent Pipeline solves this problem:

--  All of their talent leads, at their fingertips, on the LinkedIn
      Recruiter platform. Recruiters can import leads and resumes found from
      other sources into Recruiter.  These records can be searched, tagged
      with additional information, and shared across the team just like any
      profile sourced on LinkedIn. With new tools for adding a lead's source
      and status, recruiters will be able to report on and improve the
      efficiency of their pipeline activities.
  --  Stale leads are transformed into up-to-date records with deeper insights
      by being connected to LinkedIn. When new leads are imported, they are
      connected to their LinkedIn profile, which members keep updating even
      when they aren't looking for a job. Recruiters are better positioned to
      evaluate and build relationships with leads, based on the insights
      provided by the LinkedIn profile, including shared connections, activity
      updates, recommendations and shared groups.
  --  Because it is LinkedIn, it is an easy extension of the sourcing that
      recruiting teams already do on the professional network today. More than
      75 of the Fortune 100 and another 6,000 companies use LinkedIn Hiring
      Solutions as a resource for finding, contacting, evaluating and staying
      in touch with leads, since they know most of their leads have profiles
      on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is working closely with a number of large recruiters to develop Talent Pipeline, including PepsiCo, Pfizer, Red Hat, First Citizens Bank and Netflix.
L.J. Brock, Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition & Infrastructure at Red Hat, the world's leading open source technology provider, commented, "Our talent acquisition strategy is based on building refined talent pools for the strategic roles essential to our business. Maintaining meaningful relationships with these candidates in a personalized but scalable manner is a priority for us. LinkedIn Talent Pipeline will allow us to do that more effectively than anything that exists today."
Available in the first half of 2012, the core functionality of Talent Pipeline will be included as part of LinkedIn Recruiter at no additional charge. A separate version of Talent Pipeline will be available for team members not using Recruiter.
Notes to editors
LinkedIn's Talent Connect customer event runs from the 17th -- 19th October in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company's flagship customer event attracts corporate recruitment professionals from around the world, and is the company's third such conference, following events in San Francisco and London. Speakers at this year's conference include senior talent leaders from BP, Deloitte, Microsoft, PepsiCo, American Express, HP, Intel, Pfizer, Red Hat, Sony, Zynga and many more.
LinkedIn's existing Recruiter solution makes it easy for recruiters to search the LinkedIn network, and is currently used by 75 of the Fortune 100.

LinkedIn Announces Webcast of Third Quarter 2011 Earnings

LinkedIn Announces Webcast of Third Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call







LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the world's largest professional network on the Internet, today announced that it will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2011 financial results and business outlook on Thursday, November 3, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, following the release of the Company's quarterly financial results. Jeff Weiner, CEO and Steve Sordello, CFO will host the webcast.

The live webcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations section of the LinkedIn website at http://investors.linkedin.com/. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on the website. For those without access to the Internet, a replay of the call will be available beginning at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on November 3, 2011 through November 10, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time. To listen to the telephone replay, call (855) 859-2056, access code 18194888.

LinkedIn Allows Companies to be More Social with Company Updates!

LinkedIn Allows Companies to be More Social with Company Updates

LinkedIn (NASDAQ:LNKD) continues to come up with simple yet effective ways to drive user engagement higher. With the latest addition of ‘company status updates’, the professional networking giant hopes to enhance a company’s page on LinkedIn by allowing updates. This is a nice move that allows the company to now communicate regularly to followers be they exiting employees, customers or just fans of the company. In other words it can now participate in the social media side of corporate networking and follows in the footsteps of the popularity of its groups function, which allows users to add updates and engage in dialogue.

Glamour stocks to beat a gloomy market!

Glamour stocks to beat a gloomy market 


By Shawn Langlois 








SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Americans are fascinated by celebrities, and not just the ones nipping and tucking their way down Hollywood Boulevard. Such a star culture is alive and well on Wall Street too.
Look no further than "glamour" stocks, the ones that investors just can't seem to get enough of. These equities are popular, expensive and widely held. They're also seen as having strong growth potential, valuations be damned.


"Investors aren't afraid to own most of them, even with sky-high valuations," she added. "Well-known brands are still cashing in, regardless of the global economic uncertainty."

She pointed out names like Priceline.com Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Whole Foods Market Inc., along with hot IPO companies like LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD, Trade )

Perhaps the appetite for at least some of these names signals an investing public ready to push ahead, regardless of dreary market prospects. But the lofty valuations might not keep buyers from hopping aboard glamour picks, according to Partha Mohanram, an accounting professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

                                                           

"I don't see these relatively high prices as warnings signs," he said. "Apple may go up by a factor of two, while Research In Motion Ltd., gets cut in half, but there's a reason for that. Don't be obsessed with where the price is. You need to ask which ones deserve the hype."

                                                             

If LinkedIn can sustain a price above, say, $75 a share, BOFA and Morgan should have sold 


it to institutions at $60. Because the stock was instead sold at $45, LinkedIn and its existing 


investors just got screwed to the tune of $175 million.






That means folks like us get to write breathless stories about how much money investors


are making and how everyone's partying like it's 1999.

                                        Happy? Of course. But not as happy as he deserves to be.

CONGRATULATIONS, LINKEDIN! You Just Got Screwed Out Of $130 Million

www.businessinsider.com

I Create my Day!

Excerpt from Dr. Joe Dispenza's interview from What the bleep do we Know on creating my day. If you want to know more or understand fully what he is talking about I suggest you watch the film "What The Bleep do We Know."

U.S. IPO Pipeline Continues To Swell!

IPO Pipeline

The following is a list of companies that are planning initial public offerings. Updated as of Monday, September 26, 2011.

Source: Federal Filings.

Date refers to when plans for the offering were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares refer to millions of shares that are being offered. Price refers to the price range at which the stock is expected to be offered. Shares outstanding refers to millions of shares that will be outstanding, including those closely held. Managers refer the the underwriters of the offering.

---

IPOs Registered In 2011
Company                  Date     Shares  Price       Managers*

Active Network            2/14/11   N/A      N/A          N/A 
Ally Financial Inc.       3/31/11   N/A      N/A          C,GS,JP,MS 
Aleris Corporation        4/26/11   N/A      N/A          N/A 
Alexander Mortgage REIT   3/7/11    N/A      N/A          N/A 
American Realty Cap Inc.  2/11/11   8.8     $12.50        N/A 
Angie's List, Inc.        8/25/11   N/A      N/A          BA 
Ares Commercial Real Est. 9/14/11   N/A      N/A          WF,C,BA,JP 
Argos Therapeutics, Inc.  7/19/11   N/A      N/A          LZ,CAN,ND,BMO 
Aspen Aerogels, Inc.      6/24/11   N/A      N/A          GS,MS 
Avenue Capital Mortgage   6/29/11   N/A      N/A          N/A 
Banctec, Inc.             5/13/11   N/A      N/A          WB,ND,DAV 
BATS Global Markets Inc.  5/13/11   N/A      N/A          C,CS,MS,WE,RJ,SAND 
Bazaarvoice, Inc.         8/26/11   N/A      N/A          MS,DB,CS 
Bluestem Brands, Inc.     4/21/11   N/A      N/A          DB,PJ,O,WB 
Brightcove Inc.           8/24/11   N/A      N/A          MS,STIF 
Bonanza Creek Energy Inc.  6/7/11   N/A      N/A          MS 
Bond Street Holdings Inc. 5/16/11   N/A      N/A          DB,JP 
BrightSource Energy Inc.  4/22/11   N/A      N/A          GS,C,DB 
CafePress                 6/10/11   N/A      N/A          JPM,CO,JF 
The Carlyle Group          9/6/11   N/A      N/A          JPM,C,CS 
Cathay Industrial Biotech 7/19/11   6.9      $12-$14      MS,DB,JF 
Chesapeake Granite Wash Tr 7/7/11   N/A      N/A          MS,RJ 
Community Choice Fin      8/23/11   N/A      N/A          JF,CS,STE 
Cornerstone OnDemand      3/16/11   10.5    $13.00        GS,BC,WB,PJ,PC,JMP 
Cloudary Corp.            5/24/11   N/A      N/A          BA,GS 
Clovis Oncology Inc.      6/23/11   N/A      N/A          JPM,CS,LR 
Cortina Systems Inc.      3/16/11   N/A      N/A          JP,BC,PJ,ND,O,ROTH 
CPG International Inc.    4/22/11   N/A      N/A          BC,DB,CS 
Crown Auto Holdings       1/10/11    3       N/A          N/A 
CyOptics, Inc.            8/12/11   N/A      N/A          JP, BC 
Delphi Automotive PLC     5/25/11   N/A      N/A          GS,JP,BA,BC,MS,DB 
Demandware, Inc.          7/15/11   N/A      N/A          GS,DB 
Digital Domain Media Grp  5/16/11   22.25    $16-$18      BC,JMP 
Dynamic Offshore Res.     8/26/11   N/A      N/A          C,CS,DB,TUD,UBS 
Eloqua Limited            8/24/11   N/A      N/A          JP,DB,JMP,NEED,PC 
Enduro Royalty Trust      5/16/11   13.2     N/A          BC 
Enphase Energy, Inc.      6/15/11   N/A      N/A          MS,BA,JF,LZ,THIN 
EPAM Systems, Inc.        6/10/11   N/A      N/A          C,UBS,BC 
Era Group Inc.             8/1/11   N/A      N/A          GS,JP,DB 
ESCO Corporation           5/2/11   N/A      N/A          GS,MS 
Exa Corp.                  8/3/11   N/A      N/A          SN,BD,CAN,NEED 
FTS International          9/9/11   N/A      N/A          BA,C,GS,CS 
FX Alliance Inc.          9/19/11   N/A      N/A          BA,C,GS,JP 
Forum Energy Technologies  9/1/11   N/A      N/A          JP 
GCT Semiconductor         9/15/11   N/A      N/A          GS,BA,CO,O 
Genomatica, Inc.          8/23/11   N/A      N/A          MS,JP,JF,PJ 
Global Eagle Acquisition  2/15/11   20.2     $10          C 
Global Market Group Ltd.  2/25/11   2        $6-$7        DB,PJ,CW,LZ,O 
Grand Farm Inc.           5/12/11   N/A      N/A          NEW 
Greenwich Kahala Aviation 1/6/11    N/A      N/A          N/A 
Greenway Medical Tech Inc.7/15/11   N/A      N/A          JP,MS,WB,PJ,RJ 
Groupon                    6/2/11   N/A      N/A          MS,GS,CS 
GSE Holdings, Inc.        7/11/11   N/A      N/A          JF,O 
Guidewire Software Inc.    9/2/11 
Haiwang Resources & Tech   2/2/11   5.2      N/A          CCM 
Home Loan Servicing       2/24/11  18.3      $15          BC, WF 
ILFC Holdings Inc.         9/2/11   N/A      N/A          C,JP,MS 
Imperva, Inc.             6/17/11   N/A      N/A          JP,DB,LZ,RBC,PC 
Impinj, Inc.              4/21/11   N/A      N/A          MS,JP,NEED,PC,RJ 
Inergy Midstream, LLC     8/24/11   N/A      N/A          MS,BC 
Inland Core Assets        9/12/11   180      $9.50-$10    N/A 
Inland Western Retail     2/14/11   N/A      N/A          C,DB,JP,KEY 
Jive Software, Inc.       8/24/11   N/A      N/A          MS,GS,C,UBS 
JTH Holdings Inc.          9/2/11   N/A      N/A          JF,SUN 
Laredo Petroleum Hldgs.   8/24/11   N/A      N/A          JP,GS,BA,WF 
Latrobe Specialty Metals  5/25/11   N/A      N/A          CS,FBR,JF,KEY,CO 
Liposcience, Inc.         6/23/11   N/A      N/A          BC,UBS,PJ 
Loyalty Alliance Corp.    7/22/11   N/A      N/A          MAC 
Luca Technolgies Inc.     6/29/11   N/A      N/A          UBS,C,PJ 
MacDermid Group Inc.      7/11/11   N/A      N/A          CS,MS,DB 
Manning & Napier Inc.      7/1/11   N/A      N/A          BA 
Mascoma Corp.             9/18/11   N/A      N/A          MS,UBS,CS 
Matador Resources Co.     8/12/11   N/A      N/A          RB,C 
Matress Firm Hldgs Corp.  6/10/11   N/A      N/A          BC,UBS,WB 
M/A-COM Tech Solutions     8/1/11   N/A      N/A          BC,JP,JF 
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals  7/8/11   N/A      N/A          JP,BA 
Midland States Bancorp,   5/13/11    5       $15-$17      SAND,STIF 
MOBITV, INC.              8/31/11   N/A      N/A          JP,DB,BD,WB,PC 
Momentive Perf Materials  4/22/11   N/A      N/A          N/A 
New Source Energy Corp.   8/29/11   N/A      N/A          BMO,KEY 
Nexx Systems, Inc.        6/22/11   7        $5.50-$7     NEED,OP,CAN,CARI 
North American Fin Hldgs  6/23/11   N/A      N/A          CS,BA,GS 
Neutron Energy Inc.       3/30/11   N/A      N/A          ROTH 
Newgistics Inc.           3/9/11    N/A      N/A          STIF,PJ,BBT,WB 
NewLink Genetic Corp.     2/28/11   N/A      N/A          WF,CAN,BD,CO,ND 
NetQin Mobile Inc.        3/16/11   N/A      N/A          PJ 
Nationstar Mortgage Hldgs 5/16/11   N/A      N/A          N/A 
Party City Hldgs Inc.     4/22/11   N/A      N/A          GS,BA,BC,DB,CS,MS,WFC 
PetroLogistics LP         6/21/11   N/A      N/A          MS,C,UBS,WFC 
Proto Labs, Inc.          7/22/11   N/A      N/A          JF,PJ 
Provident Mortgage Cap.   3/8/11    N/A      N/A          UBS,CS,DB 
Putnam Mortage Opp. Co.   4/11/11   N/A      N/A          BC 
Rentech Nitrogen Partners  8/5/11   N/A      N/A          MS,CS 
Restoration Hardware       9/9/11   N/A      N/A          BA,GS 
Rose Rock Midstream, L.P. 8/12/11   N/A      N/A          BC 
Sanchez Energy Corp.       9/1/11   N/A      N/A          JOHN,MAC 
Silver Spring Ntwks Inc.   7/7/11   N/A      N/A          MS,GS,CS 
South Valley Bancorp, Inc.7/29/11   N/A      N/A          DAV 
Springleaf REIT Inc.      5/13/11   N/A      N/A          N/A 
Sprague Resources LP      7/27/11   N/A      N/A          BC,JP 
Stewart & Steveson LLC     5/3/11   N/A      N/A          JP 
Sunshine Silver Mines      7/7/11   N/A      N/A          UBS,MS,RBC 
Targeted Medical Pharma   2/14/11   N/A      N/A          SUN 
Tilly's, Inc.              7/1/11   N/A      N/A          GS,BA,PJ 
TIM W.E. SGPS, S.A.       7/28/11   N/A      N/A          CS,C 
Transunion Corp.           7/5/11   N/A      N/A          BA,JP,DB,CS,MS 
Trinseo SA                6/27/11   N/A      N/A          DB,GS,C,BC 
Trustwave Holdings, Inc.  4/21/11   6.25     $15-$17      MS,JP,BC,WB,BMO 
Vocera Communications Inc. 8/1/11   N/A      N/A          JP,PJ,BD,WB,MK 
Union Ag Grp Corp          7/5/11   14.3     $13-$15      CS,JP 
U.S. Silica Hldgs Inc.    7/18/11   N/A      N/A          MS 
WageWorks Inc.            4/26/11   5.77     $12-$14      CS,WB,SNW,JMP,NEED 
WhiteSmoke, Inc.          5/12/11   N/A      N/A          ROD,BD 
WPX Energy, Inc.          4/29/11   N/A      N/A          BC,JP 
Xunlei Limited            6/8/11    N/A      N/A          JP,DB,CO,NEED,STIF 
Yandex                    4/28/11   52.2     $20-$22      DB, MS, GS 
Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc.    7/13/11   N/A      N/A          JP,GS 
Zynga Inc.                7/1/11    N/A      N/A          MS,BC,GS,BA,JP 
 

LinkedIn Is About To Up The Ante For Marketers And Brands

Steve Olenski, The Star Group

While Facebook and Google+ continue to try and one-app each other and marketers and brands continually look for ways to leverage them for maximum effect, one social media network which boasts "only" 120 million members is poised to make some changes of its own... and marketers and advertisers would be wise to take notice.

While Facebook and Google+ continue to try and one-app each other and marketers and brands continually look for ways to leverage them for maximum effect, one social media network which boasts "only" 120 million members is poised to make some changes of its own... and marketers and advertisers would be wise to take notice. 

The changes to Facebook continue to take shape and marketers and advertisers, as well as consumers, sort through all the options now available. Google+ continues it's incredible ascent as a major player in the social media space. Twitter shows no signs of slowing down. Hell even Amazon and Microsoft are reportedly toying with the idea of joining the social media party. But this post is about LinkedIn, the "business" social network... that is how you, as a consumer, thinks about it, right? Perhaps not as a marketer or advertiser but the consumer in you sees it that way I'm guessing. 

Facebook is for personal use. Twitter is where you get information. And LinkedIn is where you network on a professional level. That sound about right? And I'm also thinking that many of you equate LinkedIn as a social network for B2B companies only. After all, 58% currently use it for marketing relationship building and lead generation. Of course one must never lose sight of the fact that even though it's called B2B, there's still a "C" on the other end. It would be wise for ALL marketers and advertisers, be they from the B2B marketing world or B2C marketing world to remember that, not just in the context of LinkedIn but the whole world as well.

However for today, we'll keep in the context of LinkedIn. 

The "Follow Company" Feature...

About a year and half ago, LinkedIn introduced a new feathers that allowed users to "Follow" companies on LinkedIn. Along the same lines of the Facebook "Like" feature, users who follow a company can receive updates about the company such as recent news, job postings, promotions, etc. The feature works fine from that regard, however it didn't provide much value for the companies themselves. Well that maybe all about to change. 

From an article in Ad Week...

"Mike Gamson, SVP of sales for LinkedIn, said now that the company has achieved brand-friendly scale (with a membership of 120 million professionals globally), it plans to make a major push with advertising. And, he added, the next step in engaging customers on LinkedIn will involve the “Follow Company” feature it launched last year."

Gamson went to say that he believes "there’s an incredibly important moment right now in the world of online advertising" and that "right now is the moment of acquisition of a [LinkedIn] follower base." He predicted that for the next 12 to 18 months brands will be investing in their followers and fans and that those who don't act now, will be left in the proverbial dust. Gamson also believes people will be very selective in which companies they choose to pledge their allegiance to on LinkedIn, “We believe there is a finite number of brands that any single LinkedIn member will follow."

Ok, what does all this mean to marketers and advertisers?

Well it's obvious that the “Follow Company” feature is about to carry a lot more weight, hence Gamson's urgent message to companies/brands to get more followers now. Why? Well as the Ad Week article puts it "Attracting followers now, while the feature is still relatively new, will cost much less than courting them down the road, when brands might have to lure them away from rival companies they’ve already decided to follow."

But What About Facebook & Twitter Advertising?

Obviously marketers and advertisers will have to make the ultimate decision as to what social network platform or platforms they choose to spend their media dollars on but if you listen to Gamson, if your target audience is well-educated, more affluent professionals, with a business-first mentality, then LinkedIn may be the way to go. “Facebook or Twitter, [that’s] a very, very broad segment of the population,” he said. But for companies trying to reach consumers about IRA rollovers, business class airline tickets, or small business credit cards, “the perfect lead for those marketers is on Linkedin.”

Of course he (Gamson) is just slightly jaded toward his own company... imagine that?

Either way, it will be very exciting to see what LinkedIn has in store for it's “Follow Company” feature when it announces the changes.

Sources: Ad Week, socialmediab2b.com, The Star Group, LinkedIn Is About To Up The Ante For Marketers And Brands

LinkedIn plans to shake up the social ads paradigm!

How LinkedIn plans to unleash the power within its network

“This is the world’s largest business network, with 120m members worldwide, including more than half a million members in Ireland,” Bernsel explained.

“Globally, we have two members joining every second. What we have discovered is LinkedIn is not just a social network for these people – it is a work tool. It’s not just about getting introduced, it’s about knowing exactly what’s happening. And of course, there’s no better way of organising your business cards – if you move job your network stays with you.

“The other thing we are finding is that for people with specific job titles, such as IT professionals, it is much more useful in terms of getting the right information.”

For LinkedIn to grow its advertising base, having this specific information could be a bonus for advertisers, says Bernsel.

“We are all social creatures and we are curious about people and our networks. Most of our users start their day at the social network and it goes from there. The key is combining the predominance of very senior people into services for advertisers,” Bernsel said.

“One thing that social media provides you with is trust. In the business world, you tend to know who you are dealing with and if a connection recommends something, because you know that person it is likely to be of good value to you.”

Bernsel said the power of the network is its targeting capability.

“Every marketer today wants to put relevant messages in front of the right person. In many cases, the targeting is implied. On most networks they think they know a visitor because of the type of article he or she reads. On LinkedIn, we would know if it is a CFO or a CTO.

“As well as this, every updated profile is rich with information and we can use that information to help advertisers reach exactly the right people, so there’s value there for the advertisers and the members because what they will be seeing on their pages will be relevant to them.

“We believe the polls, for example, are an interesting new format for advertising. Instead of an ad where you have a banner, you have a question. That question will be about something that highlights the value around the brand, such as what’s important for you when you fly, is it fast check-in, comfortable seats, food, etc.

“The viral effect of that will result in the network seeing what members have engaged with.”

I asked Bernsel about LinkedIn’s plans for mobile marketing. “In the current mobile app there is no advertising and I’m not aware of any plans around that. But there is a constant stream of business development taking place around mobile.”

While Bernsel couldn’t comment on new features arriving on the LinkedIn platform, he said the social media landscape is evolving. “We will continue to be innovative and roll out new functions. The wishlist from members is very long. But you can be optimistic; we are working on some truly great things.”

John Kennedy

LinkedIn Could Get Some Love From Obama Jobs Plan!

President Obama’s ambitious $447 billion Jobs Act is a significant opportunity for LinkedIn to capitalize on the increased hiring expected by small businesses in the U.S. 

With Obama’s town hall meeting hosted by LinkedIn itself,  the professional networking site benefits from even greater visibility after its much-hyped IPO earlier this year. The big question is however whether or not LinkedIn manages to work as efficiently for small businesses as it does for its large and well-known corporate clients as this is the real key to job growth and the underlying message Obama was promoting.

The Upside: Greater Visibility and Increased Users

With LinkedIn being chosen as the host for Obama’s town hall meeting this past Monday, the company benefited from greater visibility and an implied endorsement from the White House as a job creator and innovator given its focus on professional networking.

Additionally, despite the U.S. unemployment rate in the +9% range, ^[3] there are still around 3.2 million available jobs in the country. ^[4] This presents a big opportunity for LinkedIn to bridge this employment gap.

Given Obama’s pressing need to improve the economic sentiment in the U.S., much of which relies on employment growth, it would not be a surprise if LinkedIn gets further endorsement from large and small businesses presenting a clear upside to its user base which is already 120-million strong.