Chapter 468 - 467: Four Powerful Partners!

Chapter 468: Chapter 467: Four Powerful Partners!

March 12th.

Today was a momentous day for LinkedIn Corporation, arguably its biggest since its founding three years ago.

Starting today, LinkedIn was no longer solely owned by Kyle; it welcomed several powerful allies into the fold!

LinkedIn’s Series A financing round attracted the attention of countless investors from both home and abroad.

Capital moguls, financial supermen, and corporate giants... all of them wanted a piece of the delicious cake that was LinkedIn.

A series of well-known media outlets, including Bloomberg News, Finance, Fortune, and The Washington Post, launched a barrage of reports.

Mainstream TV stations like NBC, CBS, and ABC also made it a key focus on their financial channels.

The local media in Seattle was even more sensationalized!

With a valuation exceeding $420 million, anyone with eyes could see that LinkedIn was about to enter’sweep mode,’ wiping out all its competitors trailing behind in the same industry.

"The overlord of online recruitment and internet job placement is about to be born!"

This was the front-page headline of the latest issue of Finance, sparking discussions among many people across America.

"LinkedIn’s value is definitely underestimated. It has long been the overlord of online recruitment and internet job placement. I am certain that in ten years, it will become a unicorn company with a market value exceeding $10 billion!" said renowned economist Teva Sloan.

Other companies in the same internet job placement sector were trembling with fear!

Every single one of them was now incredibly nervous!

Interactive Recruitment was a clear example.

White Williams, CEO and co-founder of Interactive Recruitment, said warily: "The companies collaborating with LinkedIn cover energy, Finance, services, agriculture, real estate, and almost every type of job you can imagine. Even Fortune 100 companies have partnerships with LinkedIn, and many are even strategic partners."

"My goodness~"

"It was already the leader of this industry. Once it successfully obtains a massive amount of capital,"

"plus several powerful allies, how are we supposed to compete?"

"Who will be able to contain LinkedIn’s development in the future?!"

White Williams was furious, feeling an immediate urge to flip the table!

Other industry peers were also indignant, yet they were helpless.

There was nothing they could do~

The foundation Kyle had laid for LinkedIn was excessively solid!

Once upon a time, the development of the internet industry was based on winning over user numbers; LinkedIn, on the other hand, was clearly different.

During its development, LinkedIn attached great importance to the growth of user numbers while paying even closer attention to the user experience. The high-quality positions provided by major companies had always firmly held the attention of job seekers.

"Its foundation is too solid. It’s extremely difficult for us to surpass it, almost to the point of despair," the industry peers felt extremely aggrieved.

"In a business model, the most terrifying thing isn’t winning through creativity or crushing others with massive capital, but rather moving steadily and surely, one step at a time!"

"Clearly, LinkedIn is following this steady and sure strategy."

Well, Bezos’s Amazon was the same. While other companies began to venture overseas, Amazon remained very low-key, working hard to cultivate the North America market and making it as solid as an iron fortress... After some consideration, Kyle directly made the final call to accept four companies.

They were Amazon Marketplace, Microsoft, Heidrick & Struggles, and Europe’s Blue Crest Capital—these four companies!

1. Amazon Marketplace needs no introduction; it is currently the e-commerce overlord of North America and will be the progenitor of cloud computing in the future, possessing great strength;

2. Microsoft, even though it is deep in antitrust investigations and suffered heavy losses in the Dot-com Bubble, remains the overlord of the software field in the World today, with strength that is an absolute mess;

3. Heidrick & Struggles, one of the World’s top five headhunting firms, possesses superior human resource information worldwide, especially in the collection of information on high-level elite talents, which few commercial companies in the World can match;

4. Blue Crest Capital, the third-largest hedge fund in Europe. Its owner, Michael Platt, is a guest of honor for politicians in various European countries and regions; at the same time, he is also a member of the EU’s economic advisory team. He possesses immense connections and influence in Europe.

The addition of four powerful allies instantly gave LinkedIn a qualitative leap in terms of capital, connections, and networking.

As soon as the news broke, it caused an immediate sensation!

The Washington Post immediately published an article stating: "A combination of the strong and the powerful. Without a doubt, a giant company is about to rise!"

The Boston Evening Post wrote: "It is foreseeable that the online recruitment and internet job placement industry will undergo a massive cleanup and a major earthquake!"

Bloomberg News published: "No Wall Street investment banks involved? Kyle Page himself is a member of Wall Street and an investor with a very strategic vision. In America, his LinkedIn doesn’t need Wall Street’s financial support at all. At least not in the Series A financing, but it’s not ruled out that Wall Street investment banks will join during the Series B or C rounds."

...The continuous reporting by many well-known media outlets caused LinkedIn’s popularity to rise higher and higher. It was only because LinkedIn was not currently a listed company; otherwise, the stock price would definitely have seen a major surge.

Of course, with reports from various media, how could California Entertainment News and Los Angeles Entertainment News be missing?

Two entertainment media outlets reporting on Finance, economics, and internet news looked discordant no matter how you viewed it!

But who could blame them for being Kyle’s die-hard lackeys?!

As long as it concerned Kyle himself or his industries, you could definitely see them publishing reports at the first opportunity.

"California Entertainment News and Los Angeles Entertainment News are a disgrace to the media industry!"

Numerous media outlets and newspapers had complained about them countless times... During the most recent LinkedIn shareholder meeting.

Kyle clearly stated: "Within one year, we will completely win the North America market, increasing LinkedIn’s market share from the current 52% to over 80%, becoming the true overlord of online recruitment and internet job placement!"

The four shareholders and shareholder representatives from Microsoft, Amazon, Heidrick & Struggles, and Blue Crest Capital unanimously supported Kyle’s decision.

Moreover, they strongly believed that LinkedIn could achieve this set goal.

As the chairman of LinkedIn, Kyle possessed an extremely sharp sense for internet business, a point that earned him the deep support of both Microsoft and Amazon.

"In the future, LinkedIn will not only be satisfied with online recruitment and internet job placement; we also aim to achieve long-term development in real-time internet news, online education, and so on, striving to become one of the main forces in the social networking field."

Kyle said in a deep voice.

In short, simple online recruitment and job placement were not Kyle’s only plans for LinkedIn; his vision was clearly higher and further.

Overall, LinkedIn’s Series A financing was very fast!

Cutting through the mess like a sharp knife!

The reason it was so fast was simply... both sides were eager!

From then on, Kyle’s shareholding in LinkedIn decreased from total ownership to 75%. In exchange for the shares, at a valuation exceeding $420 million, he gained over $130 million in cash flow and acquired four powerful partners.

Even if his shareholding ratio drops below 20% or even less after the Series B and C rounds or after going public, Kyle is confident he can firmly maintain control over LinkedIn.

The third update of the day is here.

Don’t think 20% of shares is little; for a listed company with a market value exceeding $10 billion, its founders rarely have shares exceeding 8%.