Business Digest || LinkedIn files papers for IPO

LinkedIn files papers for IPO

SAN FRANCISCO

LinkedIn Corp., the company behind the largest website for professional networking, plans to raise at least $175 million in an initial public offering of stock that could open the IPO floodgates for other widely used online services that connect people with common interests.

The IPO papers filed Thursday by LinkedIn puts the 8-year-old company on a path to make its stock market debut in the next three to four months, barring any major stumbling blocks.

It might be the most highly anticipated IPO in the technology industry since software maker VMware Inc. went public in 2007, said Scott Sweet, senior managing partner of IPOBoutique.

Microsoft earnings edge slightly lower

SEATTLE

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said its net income for the latest quarter fell slightly from a year ago, and it beat Wall Street’s expectations despite the weak personal-computer market.

Microsoft’s net income for the October-December quarter was $6.63 billion, compared with $6.66 billion in the same period last year. Thanks to stock buybacks, net income rose to 77 cents per share, from 74 cents. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting net income of 69 cents per share for the fiscal second quarter.

Much of Microsoft’s business depends on selling copies of the Windows operating system and Office desktop software, products that rise and fall with fluctuations in the personal-computer market.

Financial fallout of Egyptian unrest

CAIRO

Fueled by fury over financial deprivation, the unrest roiling Egypt threatens to undermine the country’s economic growth and further weaken the government.

The third-straight day of protests sent the stock market plummeting Thursday, rattled investors and clouded what the government has portrayed as its crowning legacy: rising GDP and a surging private sector led by a construction boom and vibrant, seemingly recession-proof banks.

Many say the fruits of growth in this formerly socialist economy have been funneled almost entirely to a politically connected elite.

The 10.5 percent plunge in the market left its year-to-date losses at more than 20 percent, and traders warned that economic damage could widen if huge protests materialize today, as threatened by the opposition.

Treasury prices up

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rose Thursday after the government completed a successful auction of seven-year notes.

Investors signaled that they continued to favor the safety of Treasury bonds after concerns aired by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday that the economy wasn’t growing fast enough.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note rose 31 cents per $100 invested Thursday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 3.38 percent from 3.41 percent.

Associated Press