Facebook (FB.OQ)did crash at wall street, or did it not? It doesn't hurt to be optimistic but we all know what's going on with the social network giant since going public. The voices which were thick at the start due to the expectations and excitement have come close to choking since then. Whether the expectations were too high, the price was over ambitious or Facebook took to wrong time to go public? The speculations will be written and discussed at length for some time to come. What remains to be seen is how Mark and Co. handles the situation they find themselves in.
Much of the blue & white talk, at present we are here to be more orange-ish in color. Whatever seems to going on with Facebook, Viadeo; the second largest professional (and social) network in the world and the biggest competitor of LinkedIn is, as it looks, unfazed by the trouble the social network giant find themselves in. Viadeo seems unperturbed of the consequences that Facebook is going through and is of the opinion that the issues and condition will not dent social media valuations. And on the same note, they themselves are panning on going public in two years from now.
Viadeo' Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Olivier Fecherolle thinks the impact of Facebook' IPO are limited on the professional network. Looking at the LinkedIn (LNKD.N) status, he seems to be making a point! Headquartered in Paris, France Viadeo is with a global user base of around 45Mn. The company' major chunk of user base comes from Europe, China (operates under Tianji banner), Latin America and India (under the ApnaCircle.com brand name). The site offers enough cream to target the professionals, job seekers and well as head hunters. They did open a new office in San Francisco, USA, in the second half of last year; in an effort to boost the presence in LinkedIn backyard.
The company was reported to be thinking of going public mid last year. The plans were however shelved, rather postponed, citing reasons as focus on growth in emerging markets. As per Olivier, Viadeo's fund raising round that was completed in April this year was a big boost and the company is looking to grow more in the emerging markets with the fund thus raised. Obviously the plans to go public have also received a growth in the minds due to this fund raiser.
This is what Olivier has to say to Reuters a few days back:
Much of the blue & white talk, at present we are here to be more orange-ish in color. Whatever seems to going on with Facebook, Viadeo; the second largest professional (and social) network in the world and the biggest competitor of LinkedIn is, as it looks, unfazed by the trouble the social network giant find themselves in. Viadeo seems unperturbed of the consequences that Facebook is going through and is of the opinion that the issues and condition will not dent social media valuations. And on the same note, they themselves are panning on going public in two years from now.
The company was reported to be thinking of going public mid last year. The plans were however shelved, rather postponed, citing reasons as focus on growth in emerging markets. As per Olivier, Viadeo's fund raising round that was completed in April this year was a big boost and the company is looking to grow more in the emerging markets with the fund thus raised. Obviously the plans to go public have also received a growth in the minds due to this fund raiser.
This is what Olivier has to say to Reuters a few days back:
It was our last (funding) round before a possible
IPO," said Fecherolle. "We will use this money to accelerate the
geographies we are targeting such as China and need time to execute (the
plan) before coming back to potential investors.
An IPO could be planned for around two years'
time, depending on market conditions and Viadeo's development, with the
company most likely to choose between France and the United States for a stock exchange to list on.
0 comments:
Post a Comment