LinkedIn’s first public shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, abbreviated NYSE. The company’s stock traded under the ticker symbol LNKD when it completed its initial public offering in May 2011.
LinkedIn announced the pricing of its IPO on May 18, 2011, offering 7,840,000 shares at $45 per share. The first-day trading performance attracted considerable attention because it reflected intense investor interest in a major social-networking company focused on business and employment.
People sometimes confuse the NYSE listing with Nasdaq because many prominent technology companies trade on Nasdaq. LinkedIn nevertheless chose the NYSE, making the exchange part of its early corporate history. Its public-market period ended after Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $26.2 billion; the deal closed in December 2016.
The ticker LNKD is also a useful clue when identifying historical references to LinkedIn stock. After the acquisition, LinkedIn no longer traded as an independent public company, so NYSE and LNKD references generally describe the pre-Microsoft era.