Xing makes record operating profit of €3.7 million

Professional social networking site Xing has made a record operating profit for the second quarter, making €3.7 million (£3.1 million) due to its strategy of investing in new revenue streams.

Xing’s revenue for the first half of the year increased by 20%, to €25.8m. Membership for the site rose to 9.63 million – an increase of 880,000 people.

The company has increased its  revenue by introducing e-recruiting and advertising onto its site.

Half of Xing’s members are based in German-speaking countries, and it has strong markets in Turkey and Spain.

Xing has also improved its Premium Membership service, which now has 718,000 subscriptions worldwide, after 31,000 members upgraded in the first half of the year.

Stefan Gross-Selbeck, Xing’s CEO, said: “We were able to present excellent figures for the first half of 2010. From an operative perspective, the second quarter was the most successful in the company’s history, with our strategy of tapping into new sources of income already bearing fruit.”

There have been speculations about a possible merger with LinkedIn, another professional social networking site.