LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD, Financial) is the largest online professional network with more than 200 million registered members. One of the business's defining characteristics is the attractive demographics of its white-collar professional user base, making the network of particular interest to both corporate recruiters and advertisers. We believe that LinkedIn is addressing multiple large markets (including the global markets for talent acquisition and business to business advertising) with a disruptive and highly-scalable business model. We also like the fact that more than half the company's revenues derive from annual subscription fees, where we believe the company has ongoing pricing flexibility. The stock has performed well since its 2011 IPO, and it rose again, partly on the strength of its quarterly results. LinkedIn beat Wall Street's expectations and reported accelerating user engagement metrics. In addition, investors were pleased by the progress LinkedIn has made in monetizing the traffic that flows to its sites from mobile devices.
From Ron Baron's Baron Funds third quarter 2013 report.
From Ron Baron's Baron Funds third quarter 2013 report.
