# LinkedIn

> LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network, combining a free identity and content platform with paid subscriptions, recruiting software, sales intelligence, advertising and online learning. Owned by Microsoft since 2016, it serves more than 1.3 billion members and 70 million companies, turning professional profiles, relationships and labor-market activity into products for job seekers, recruiters, sellers, marketers and learning teams.

- **Founded:** 2002
- **Headquarters:** Sunnyvale, United States
- **Founders:** Reid Hoffman (Co-founder and founding CEO), Allen Blue (Co-founder), Konstantin Guericke (Co-founder), Eric Ly (Co-founder), Jean-Luc Vaillant (Co-founder)
- **Team size:** More than 17,000 full-time employees
- **Products:** LinkedIn professional network, Jobs and Premium, LinkedIn Recruiter and Talent Solutions, Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Learning
- **Notable:** Grew from 4,500 members at the end of its first month in 2003 to more than 1.3 billion members., Reached profitability in March 2006., Completed an initial public offering in 2011.

## Products & services

- **LinkedIn professional network** — Profiles, connections, messaging, publishing, groups, events, company pages, people search and a personalized professional feed.
- **Jobs and Premium** — Job discovery and applications plus paid career and business subscriptions with expanded search, messaging, insights and AI tools.
- **LinkedIn Recruiter and Talent Solutions** — Search, recommendations, messaging, job posts, employer branding and talent-market intelligence for hiring teams.
- **Sales Navigator** — Sales intelligence software with lead and account search, relationship paths, buyer signals, alerts and CRM integrations.
- **LinkedIn Learning** — An online course library for individuals and organizations, built from the 2015 acquisition of lynda.com and launched under the LinkedIn Learning name in 2016.
- **LinkedIn Ads and Marketing Solutions** — B2B advertising, lead generation, events, video, account targeting, creator partnerships and campaign measurement.
- **Hiring Assistant** — An AI agent that helps recruiters translate intake notes into searches, source candidates, draft outreach and coordinate hiring workflows.
- **Premium All-in-One** — A subscription for small businesses that combines selling, marketing and hiring tools in one dashboard.
- **Creator Marketplace and BrandWorks** — Tools and services connecting B2B brands with professional creators and supporting campaign strategy and production.

## Achievements

- Grew from 4,500 members at the end of its first month in 2003 to more than 1.3 billion members.
- Reached profitability in March 2006.
- Completed an initial public offering in 2011.
- Acquired lynda.com for approximately $1.5 billion in 2015, creating the foundation for LinkedIn Learning.
- Acquired by Microsoft in a $26.2 billion all-cash transaction announced in 2016.
- Reports 70 million companies, 144,000 schools and 42,000 skills represented on the network.
- Reports 18,000-plus connections, roughly 8,200 job applications and more than 1.8 million feed views every minute.
- Reached $19.8 billion in annual revenue and five consecutive years of double-digit member growth by 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Introduced Collaborative Posts globally, allowing members and company pages to co-author posts with up to five collaborators.
- **2026-06** — Expanded verified product proficiency on profiles and announced AI Essentials for Marketers with Adobe.
- **2026-06** — Introduced Creator Marketplace and BrandWorks for B2B creator discovery, partnerships and campaign support.
- **2026-06** — Detailed systems to reduce generic AI-generated content, automated comments and inauthentic engagement.
- **2026-04** — Named Dan Shapero CEO; former CEO Ryan Roslansky became EVP of LinkedIn and Microsoft Office.
- **2026-03** — Rolled out generative recommenders and large language models to improve feed relevance while reducing engagement bait.
- **2026-02** — Launched Premium All-in-One for founders, solopreneurs and small teams.
- **2026-01** — Expanded conversational AI job search globally in five languages and added verified AI-tool proficiency signals.
- **2025-09** — Made Hiring Assistant, its first recruiting AI agent, globally available in English.

## Links

- Website: https://www.linkedin.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/LinkedIn
- GitHub: https://github.com/linkedin
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LinkedIn
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linkedin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LinkedIn/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@linkedin

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/linkedin
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-11