In a coup for the New York Stock Exchange, the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn said in a filing on Wednesday that it would list its new shares on the Big Board.
Last month, LinkedIn, which is expected to go public later this year, said it was still considering a listing on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. The decision to go with the Big Board gives a boost to the exchange, which is in the midst of a takeover battle.
The Nasdaq OMX Group, best known as a popular home for technology stocks, recently teamed up with the IntercontinentalExchange to pursue a hostile $11 billion bid for NYSE Euronext, which has rebuffed the advance.
The Big Board has been a popular destination for several prominent Internet I.P.O.’s this year. On Wednesday, Renren, a Chinese social networking company based in Beijing, made its debut on the exchange.
The competition between the Nasdaq and the Big Board is expected to continue to heat up over the next two years, as more multibillion-dollar Web companies, including Groupon and Facebook, head to the public markets.
Although technology companies typically list on the Nasdaq, which is seen as friendlier to smaller, growth companies because of its flexible listing requirements, Peter Falvey, a managing director at Morgan Keegan, said the Big Board offered branding value.
“The N.Y.S.E. is often seen as on the side of bigger companies,” he said. But smaller companies might “get some benefit from saying, ‘We’re listed on the N.Y.S.E.,’ ” Mr. Falvey said. “It doesn’t get more blue chip than that.”
A representative for LinkedIn declined to comment on Wednesday.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase are the lead underwriters for the offering.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=5ef212205ba49cd07cdcde51b54abbf5
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