Headquarters
Sunnyvale, CAFounded
2002CEO / Founder
Daniel ShaperoEmployees
10000+Funding
Acquired — $26.2BProducts
1 product listedAvg. AI Score
7.6/10Website
www.linkedin.com/
Profile updated
About LinkedIn
LinkedIn Corporation is a professional networking and employment platform founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffman and co-founders, and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The service launched publicly in May 2003 and has grown to more than 1 billion members across 200 countries and territories.
LinkedIn operates three primary revenue segments: talent solutions (recruitment and hiring tools for employers and staffing agencies), marketing solutions (advertising products targeting professionals and businesses), and premium subscriptions (enhanced features for job seekers, sales professionals, and recruiters). The platform also includes LinkedIn Learning, an online education service with over 25,500 video courses covering business, technology, and creative subjects—a product that originated from the acquisition of Lynda.com in April 2015 for $1.5 billion.
Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in December 2016 for $26.2 billion, at the time the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history. LinkedIn operates as an independent subsidiary, maintaining its own brand, culture, and leadership structure. The company employed approximately 18,500 people as of early 2024. Daniel Shapero became CEO in April 2026, succeeding Ryan Roslansky.
Specialties
Financials
Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.
Products by LinkedIn
All products by LinkedIn reviewed by our AI panel of experts.
How Our Review Panel Scores LinkedIn
Six independent reviewer personalities assessed LinkedIn's product on their own terms. They landed within 0.6 points of each other, an unusually strong consensus.
Averaged across 1 reviewed product in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.
Competitive Landscape
Who LinkedIn competes with, and how they differ.
University- and industry-partnered courses with accredited certificates and degrees (Google, IBM, university programs), competing with LinkedIn Learning's informal skills-video library on credential weight and academic partnerships.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedOpen marketplace where any instructor can publish a course, priced per-course rather than bundled into a subscription like LinkedIn Learning (sold via LinkedIn Premium); a far larger but more variable-quality catalog.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedCommunity and project-based creative/design classes on a flat subscription, skewing toward hobbyist and creative skills rather than LinkedIn Learning's business-and-tech professional-development focus.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
Enterprise LMS infrastructure that companies use to host, assign and track training content from any provider, competing with LinkedIn Learning for corporate L&D budget rather than as a content library itself.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedNonprofit-origin platform (Harvard/MIT) offering university-grade courses and MicroMasters/professional certificate programs, competing with LinkedIn Learning on academic credibility for career-changers.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedCompany Timeline
Key milestones in LinkedIn's history, with sources.
- Milestone
Daniel Shapero becomes CEO
Daniel Shapero succeeded Ryan Roslansky as CEO of LinkedIn.
en.wikipedia.org - Milestone
Ryan Roslansky becomes CEO
Ryan Roslansky became CEO of LinkedIn, succeeding Jeff Weiner, who moved to the role of Executive Chairman.
en.wikipedia.org - Acquisition
Microsoft completes acquisition of LinkedIn
Microsoft completed its acquisition of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion ($196/share) in an all-cash deal, its largest acquisition to that point; LinkedIn continued operating as a distinct subsidiary.
en.wikipedia.org - Milestone
Microsoft announces LinkedIn acquisition
Microsoft announced a definitive agreement to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.
en.wikipedia.org - Acquisition
Acquires Lynda.com for $1.5B, forming LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn acquired online-education company Lynda.com for $1.5 billion; the deal became the foundation for LinkedIn Learning, letting members take business, technology, software and creative-skills video courses.
en.wikipedia.org - Acquisition
Acquires Pulse for $90M
LinkedIn acquired news-reading app Pulse for $90 million to expand its publishing/content platform.
en.wikipedia.org - Acquisition
Acquires SlideShare for $119M
LinkedIn acquired content-sharing platform SlideShare for $119 million.
en.wikipedia.org - Milestone
IPO on NYSE (LNKD)
LinkedIn went public on the NYSE under ticker LNKD at $45/share; shares rose as much as 171% on the first day of trading, closing at $94.25.
en.wikipedia.org - Funding
Series A led by Sequoia Capital
LinkedIn raised a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital in late 2003.
en.wikipedia.org - Founded
Founded in Mountain View, California
Reid Hoffman and co-founders, several from PayPal and Socialnet.com, founded LinkedIn.
en.wikipedia.org
Explore AI Software Reviews
Browse multi-perspective AI panel reviews across hundreds of AI tools, agents, and platforms. Find the right software with insights from CTO, Developer, Marketer, Finance, and User perspectives.