LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, recently disclosed that it has earned $1.7 billion in revenue from premium subscriptions.
This announcement, made by Dan Shapero, LinkedIn’s chief operating officer, marks the first time such information has been shared since the company was acquired by Microsoft.
Despite its substantial revenue, LinkedIn has yet to reach its maximum financial potential since the acquisition in 2016.
The platform, founded in 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly, offers services for job seekers to upload resumes and for companies to post jobs, primarily focusing on career development and professional networking. In the 2023 fiscal year, LinkedIn generated $15 billion in revenue, with $7 billion coming from its hiring software for corporate recruiters.
In an effort to further expand its business, LinkedIn has been actively working to grow its premium membership, which is available to individual users and job seekers starting at $39.99 per month.
“What we do know is that because of the uncertainty in the broader economy, there are people that are trying to make sure that they have the ability to get the best job that they can and that they’re excited about,” Shapero stated.
Last year, LinkedIn made a significant investment in AI capabilities, including the ability to analyse job advertisements and automatically determine if a job seeker might be a suitable fit based on their resume.
With a user base exceeding 1 billion registered members across more than 200 countries and territories, LinkedIn has enhanced its platform with additional features.
Job seekers can leverage the AI system to optimise their profiles to attract recruiters and even generate tailored messages to send to recruiters automatically.
Dan Shapero, LinkedIn’s chief operating officer, has reported that preliminary data indicates that 70% of members who have access to the AI features have experimented with them, and of those users, 90% have found them to be advantageous.
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