LinkedIn Plans to Raise $1 Billion in Share Offering

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LinkedIn is ready to cash in on its high-flying stock.  The professional social network filed documents with the SEC revealing plans to raise about $1 billion in a share offering in order to strengthen its balance sheet, as its stock trades near all-time highs.  Regardless of the big offering, control of the company remains deeply concentrated in the hands of co-founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman, who will still hold nearly 60% of voting power after the offering.

LinkedIn is offering 4.166 million shares in a secondary offering, which should net the company about $1 billion given the stock's closing price on August 30, when it changed hands for $240.04.  Lead underwriter JPMorgan and its peers will have 30 days to decide whether to buy up to 15% more of common stock, form S-3 filed with the SEC showed.