How Does LinkedIn Make Money?
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with more than 722 million members and 19,000 employees worldwide.
It is also one of the most successful and profitable online platforms, generating over $8 billion in revenue in 2020.
But how does LinkedIn make money, and what are the sources of its income?
This article reveals LinkedIn’s business model, and how it monetizes its massive user base.
How Does LinkedIn Make Money?
LinkedIn makes money through four main segments:
- Talent Solutions
- Marketing Solutions
- Premium Subscriptions
- Learning Solutions
Each segment offers different products and services to different customers and contributes to LinkedIn’s overall revenue.
Here is a breakdown of each segment, and how much they contributed to LinkedIn’s revenue in 2020:
Talent Solutions
This segment is the largest and most profitable one for LinkedIn, accounting for 57% of its revenue, or $4.6 billion.
Talent Solutions consists of two parts:
- Hiring and Learning and Development
Hiring helps recruiters and employers find, attract, and hire talent, while Learning and Development provides online courses and content to help employees and organizations improve their skills and performance.
Some of the products and services under this segment include LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn Jobs, LinkedIn Career Pages, LinkedIn Learning, and Glint.
Marketing Solutions
This segment is the second-largest one for LinkedIn, accounting for 26% of its revenue, or $2.1 billion.
Marketing Solutions helps marketers and advertisers reach and engage with LinkedIn’s professional audience, through various formats and channels.
Some of the products and services under this segment include Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Text Ads, Dynamic Ads, and LinkedIn Pages.
Premium Subscriptions
This segment is the third-largest one for LinkedIn, accounting for 16% of its revenue, or $1.3 billion.
Premium Subscriptions offer enhanced features and benefits to individual members, who want to access more insights, opportunities, and tools on LinkedIn.
Some of the products and services under this segment include LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and LinkedIn ProFinder.
Learning Solutions
This segment is the smallest one for LinkedIn, accounting for 1% of its revenue, or $0.1 billion.
Learning Solutions offers online courses and content to individual members, who want to learn new skills and topics on LinkedIn.
Some of the products and services under this segment include LinkedIn Learning and Lynda.com.
Conclusion
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and one of the most successful and profitable online platforms.
LinkedIn makes money through four main segments: Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, and Learning Solutions.
Each segment offers different products and services to different customers and contributes to LinkedIn’s overall revenue.
LinkedIn’s business model works because it leverages the power of its network, which creates value for its network and generates multiple streams of income.
LinkedIn also benefits from network effects, diversification, innovation, and customer loyalty, which enable it to grow and sustain its business.
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