SEC Watch: Tiger Global Bought Massive Amounts Of LinkedIn Stock Pre And Post IPO

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

LinkedIn and investment firm Tiger Global both filed separate SEC filings yesterday evening indicating that the firm loaded up on LinkedIn stock both before and after the company’s IPO in May.

According to the filing, a Tiger’s head Chase Coleman and Tiger fund, PIP V, acquired 2,436,001 shares of preferred and common stock of LinkedIn on secondary markst, from December 21, 2009 to August 10, 2010, for $31,740,600.70. Some of Tiger’s investment during this time was reported, but the filing shows Tiger had a much bigger stake.

LinkedIn Holdings, another Tiger/Coleman vehicle, acquired 1,306,927 shares of LinkedIn stock on secondary markets from August 10, 2010 to April 15, 2011, for $29,796,007.50.

And post IPO, which took place on May 19, Tiger Funds purchased 300,000 Class A Common Shares, for a purchase price of $45.00 per Share or $13,500,000.

While we knew Coleman was buying up shares of LinkedIn, we didn’t know it was to the tune of over $75,000,000. And Coleman himself now owns a little over 4 percent of LinkedIn, according to the filing. The filing also states that Coleman has agreed to not offer or sell any shares for a period of 180 days from the offering in May.

LinkedIn’s IPO priced at $45 per share, but started trading at $83 per share, giving the company a market cap of $7.8 billion. Shares have since dropped to $77.92 per share.

Tiger has made a number of investments in large internet companies including Zynga, Facebook and Yandex, which just went public two weeks ago. On the public markets, Tiger has recently bought stakes in Amaxon, Apple and Netflix. Tiger Global has $1 billion in commitments and is reportedly raising another $1.25 billion for a new fund.

We’ve confirmed Tiger’s stock purchases with LinkedIn.

Company: LinkedIn
Website: linkedin.com
Launch Date: May 1, 2003
IPO: NYSE:LNKD

With over 100 million users representing over 200 countries around the world, LinkedIn is a fast-growing professional networking site that allows members to create business contacts, search for jobs, and find potential clients. Individuals have the ability to create their own professional profile that can be viewed by others in their network, and also view the profiles of their own contacts. Competitors to LinkedIn include sites such as XING, Doostang and Ecademy. Of note, LinkedIn won...

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Financial-organization: Tiger Technology Global Management

Tiger Technology Management is a roughly $500 million hedge fund that is based in New York City and run by a rising star of the hedge fund business, Chase Coleman. The fund was up over 50% in 2001, and reportedly was up big again in 2002. Referred to as a “Tiger Cub”, Tiger Technology is one of several funds loosely run under the old Tiger Management umbrella. Run by the famous Julian Robertson, Tiger Management shut down in 2000...

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