Should Facebook Inc (FB) Buy Linkedin Corporation (LNKD) or Be LinkedIn?

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LinkedIn hit a fresh all-time high on Friday. It’s not going to sell itself for anything less than a fat premium. If LinkedIn is a $16 billion company today trading at more than 100 times this year’s projected profitability, just imagine how much any buyer would have to pay.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is perhaps the only company that would even consider a play for LinkedIn. It has tried to take on Facebook with Google+, but it could grab the most lucrative slice of the market by targeting white-collared LinkedIn users. LinkedIn wouldn’t break the bank.

It’s still hard to envision a buyout here.

Facebook is no dummy. If it wanted to buy LinkedIn, doing so would be cheaper if the social-networking king could slow LinkedIn down first. Make investors believe that LinkedIn is vulnerable. Roll out what some would perceive to be a LinkedIn killer. It is then — and only then — that a buyout should be entertained at an opportunistic price point.

Who knows? If Facebook’s aim were good enough, it may not even have to crack open its checkbook.

The article Should Facebook Buy LinkedIn or Be LinkedIn? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rick Aristotle Munarriz.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn.

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