Irish LinkedIn revenues up three-fold

Revenues at the main Irish unit of the world's largest online professional network, LinkedIn, increased more than three-fold last year to $166.6m (E137.8m). New figures show that in spite of the sharp increase in revenues from $43m to $166.6m, Linkedin Ireland Ltd's pre-tax losses increased by 60pc from $4.8m to $7.7m in the 12 months to the end of December last.

In 2010, the California company established its international headquarters in Dublin and in March of last year announced the creation of a further 100 jobs in addition to the 70 existing jobs in Ireland. LinkedIn has more than 160 million members in over 200 countries and the Dublin-based company has the non-exclusive licence to operate the LinkedIn business worldwide, excluding the US. In returns just filed with the Companies Office, the directors' report states: "We generate revenue from enterprises and professional organisations by selling our hiring solutions and marketing solutions off-line through our field sales organisation or online on our website."

The revenues from the Irish unit accounted for 31pc of LinkedIn's worldwide revenues of $522.2m last year. According to the directors' report, "turnover is expected to continue to grow throughout 2012 and the company will continue to expand its operations in Ireland to support that growth". The accounts show that the company's cost of sales increased from $19.6m to $73m, with its administrative costs increasing to $97.5m from $28m in the prior period of November 11, 2009 to December 31, 2010. The Irish Independent