[Germany] Hamburg based business social network Xing, similar to LinkedIn in Europe, continued to grow revenue and EBIDTA in the first nine months of 2009 while profits were smaller than last year.
Total revenues from January to September amounted to €33.2 million – or $49 million – up 32 percent from the same period last year (€25.1 million). But the cumulative group profits were lower than those for the same period last year (€2.5 million for 2009 vs. €4.7 million for 2008), due to “investment costs and the assignment of €1 million in one-off tax reserves for Q3”.
Q3 revenues were also up 27% from the previous year to €11.7 million (Q3/2008: €9.18 million), and 8% over the last quarter (Q2/2009: €10.79 million). The EBITDA margin was increased over the last quarter from 23% to 25%. Operating six-month EBITDA also improved slightly, from €8.7 million in 2008 to €8.8 in 2009.
Xing shares since September.
As of September 30, Xing had 8.3 million members. Most of them (43.4%) are still living Germany, Austria or Switzerland, where Xing is the market leader. But lately the social network is boosting its member growth in Turkey and Spain. The Company reported its strongest quarterly results to date in these countries, gaining market share from its competitors.
This September’s buyout rumours on TechCrunch, which were based on a small €3 jump in Xing’s shares but caused a much higher spike after analysts refered to them, don’t seem to materialize. LinkedIn founder Konstantin Guericke has given a good explanation why the long awaited takover offer from his company doesn’t come: It’s just not necessary. LinkedIn grows “by the size of one Xing in every three months”.