SAN FRANCISCO — Investors keen to get in on the online-networking craze have snapped up LinkedIn shares at $45 each, giving it a market value of more than $4 billion. That’s the highest market value for a U.S. Internet company taking its first bow on Wall Street since Google went public nearly seven years ago.
LinkedIn’s shares will make their market debut today on the New York Stock Exchange. Mutual funds, pension funds and other major money managers got the first chance to buy most of the IPO’s 7.84 million shares because shares in most IPOs typically are sold to investment bankers’ top customers. That means Main Street investors will get their first chance at LinkedIn today.
Most analysts believe demand will send shares higher in their first day of trading, even though the stock priced 30 percent to 40 percent higher than LinkedIn’s initial target of $32 to $35 a share.
