Goldman Sachs eyes winnings from $2bn float of LinkedIn

Goldman Sachs is set to pocket a paper fortune from a planned $2.2 billion flotation of social networking site LinkedIn.

Goldman, which this week announced a $500 million (£323 million) investment in Facebook, is one of the early financial backers of LinkedIn, along with Sequoia Capital, the private-equity firm famed for its successful early-stage backing of tech firms including Yahoo!

LinkedIn is expected to file documents to start the flotation process in the US within the next few months, sources said today.

Goldman today stopped taking orders from a flood of clients wanting to share in its investment in Facebook. It has been mandated to raise $1.5 billion.

Internet companies such as LinkedIn are considering offerings ahead of a potential IPO of Facebook, two sources said.

"Some of these companies want to go public because they want to beat Facebook and others out," said one. "If Facebook went public before LinkedIn, do you think anyone would pay that much attention to LinkedIn? You might want to surpass the beast."

A LinkedIn spokesman said: "An IPO is just one of many tactics that we could consider."

LinkedIn, which does not disclose financial results, makes money from advertising and premium services. It has 85 million registered users.

The valuation of a LinkedIn IPO was not given by the sources but sales of its stock on online secondary market exchange SharesPost gives LinkedIn an implied valuation of £1.41 billion.