LinkedIn Tops 250 Million Members

LinkedIn now has 259 million monthly active users, up from 238 million in the previous quarter and 187 million a year earlier.

The latest number, which came as part of LinkedIn’s third quarter earnings results, puts the professional social network firmly ahead of Twitter, which had 230 million active users last quarter according to its updated S-1. However, LinkedIn is still well behind Google+ (currently at 300 million) and Facebook (1.15 billion as of the June quarter).

“Increased member growth and engagement helped drive strong financial results in the third quarter,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. “We continue to deliver value to professionals through investment in core products and strategic initiatives such as mobile, students and the professional publishing platform.”

LinkedIn reported earnings per share of $0.39 on revenues of $393 million, beating Wall Street estimates for earnings of $0.32 per share on revenue of $384.5 million. However, the company’s guidance for the December quarter was for revenue of $415 million to $420 million, significantly less than the $438 million Wall Street was expecting. That briefly sent LinkedIn’s stock down by as much as 5% after hours, though it has since rebounded.

LinkedIn’s stock has more than doubled in the year to date, closing a few dollars shy of $250 per share. As of publication, the stock was up by nearly 2%.

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