UPDATED 03:56 EDT / OCTOBER 28 2016

NEWS

LinkedIn books a third-quarter profit as it heads into Microsoft’s hands

LinkedIn Corp. beat market expectations Thursday with its third-quarter financials in what may be its last published figures before being acquired by Microsoft Corp.

Revenue in the third quarter came in at $960 million, up 23 percent over the same quarter in 2015 and $1 million over a predicted figure of $959 million. Earnings per share were $1.18 versus 78 cents a year ago, with GAAP net profit coming in at $9 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $46.9 million, or 36 cents a share.

LinkedIn’s talent solutions division led the numbers, with revenue up 24 percent compared to a year ago, to $623 million. Marketing solutions grew 26 percent year-on-year to $175 million, while premium subscriptions were up 17 percent to $162 million. Membership numbers were reported to be up 18 percent to 467 million, while member page views grew 27 percent.

“In Q3, continued product investments across our platform drove another quarter of strong engagement and financial performance,” LinkedIn Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner said in a statement. “As we look forward, our combination with Microsoft creates the opportunity for us to dramatically increase the impact and scale with which we deliver value to our members and customers.”

Microsoft announced that it intended to acquire LinkedIn back in June for $26.2 billion in a transaction that was meant to be finalized during the third quarter. LinkedIn said it would not update its outlook for fiscal 2016 and would not be hosting a conference call to discuss the results.

At this stage, the numbers are fairly academic but the growth in the numbers are a positive for the company as it becomes a Microsoft division. Shares in LinkedIn rose slightly following the announcement, closing up 0.19 percent to $188.98 in after-hours trading, notably below Microsoft’s acquisition price of $196 per share.

Image credit: Pixabay/Public Domain CC0

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