Social media networking platform for business professionals has announced accruing $1.7 billion in revenue from premium subscriptions.
The rare disclosure by Dan Shapero, LinkedIn’s chief operating officer, in a statement seen by News.ng is the first time such has been revealed since its acquisition by tech giant Microsoft.
LinkedIn, launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly hasn’t achieved its maximum financial potential since its acquisition in 2016.
Jobseekers can upload their resumes and companies can post jobs on the platform, which is mostly used for career development and professional networking.
The business has already revealed that it generated $15 billion in revenue in the 2023 fiscal year, with $7 billion of that amount originating from the hiring software it offers to corporate recruiters.
However, LinkedIn has been trying to grow its premium membership business over the past year.
This service is available to individual users and job seekers and starts 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 said.
A major effort was made with the addition of AI capabilities last year, such as the capacity to scan a job advertisement and, based on a job seeker’s resume, automatically decide whether the seeker could be a good fit.
With more than 1 billion registered members from over 200 countries and territories.
Additionally, job searchers can use the AI system to modify their LinkedIn profile to attract recruiters and to automatically generate written messages to submit to recruiters.
According to Shapero, preliminary data from LinkedIn indicates that 70% of members who have access to the new AI capabilities have given them a try, and 90% of those users considered them to be helpful.