-LinkedIn soars on debut.

CORPORATE IT UPDATE-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

20 May 2011 - LinkedIn's (NYSE:LNKD) shares jumped strongly on their debut on Thursday, trading as high as 173% above the listing price of USD45 (EUR31) at one point, the Financial Times reported.

The performance is indicative of pent-up appetite for the Facebook breed of online social networking businesses and is forecast to be followed by a string of flotations of other such companies. However, it also prompted warnings that another dotcom bubble could be forming.

The shares closed at USD94.25, up 109%. This is the biggest first-day gain for a US company since 2006, according to Dealogic, although it is well below the record spikes of over 600% witnessed at the peak of the Internet bubble in 1999.

At USD94.25, the business-focused networking website was valued at USD8.9bn, which is 36 times last year's turnover.

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