LinkedIn now has ‘over 900m users’ after turning 20

In brief

Business-focussed social media platform LinkedIn announced its user base is nearing 1 billion as it celebrated its 20th anniversary today.

The site is currently home to over 930 million users, with more than 80% of its membership existing outside the US, it said today.

Co-founded by ex-PayPal leaders Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly in 2003, the service quickly expanded. It reached 1 million users in 2004 and achieved its first month of profitability in March 2006. By 2007, its userbase had already expanded to 10 million.

The company went public in 2011 and was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 for $26.2bn.

Over time, its marketing solutions offering has become a B2B powerhouse and its digital advertising business generates $5bn in annual revenue.