LinkedIn 2014 Annual Report Download - page 55

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In 2015, our philosophy is to continue to invest for long-term growth and we expect to continue to
invest heavily in the following:
•Talent. We expect to increase our workforce, which will result in an increase in headcount-
related expenses, including stock-based compensation expense. As of December 31, 2014, we
had 6,897 employees, which represented an increase of 37% compared to the prior year end.
•Technology. We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures to upgrade our
technology and network infrastructure to improve the ability of our website to handle expected
increases in usage, to enable the release of new features and solutions, and to scale for future
growth.
•Product. We expect to continue to invest heavily in our product development efforts, specifically
around mobile, to enable our members and customers to derive more value from our platform.
For example, in 2014, the Company launched Sponsored Updates in Marketing Solutions and
the next generation of Sales Navigator in Premium Subscriptions, both of which are available on
mobile devices. Mobile continues to be the fastest growing channel for member engagement,
growing at nearly three times the rate of overall site traffic. We internally track and define traffic
in terms of the average number of members who have visited LinkedIn.com on either mobile or
desktop devices at least once during a month. Mobile unique visiting members represented 46%
of unique visiting members in 2014.
•Monetization. We expect to continue to aggressively expand our field sales organization to
market our solutions both in the United States and internationally.
As a result of our investment philosophy, we do not expect to be profitable on a U.S. generally
accepted accounting principles (‘‘GAAP’’) basis in 2015.
Key Metrics
We regularly review a number of metrics, including the following key metrics, to evaluate our
business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial
projections and make strategic decisions.
•Number of Registered Members. We define the number of registered members in our network
as the number of individual users who have created a member profile on LinkedIn.com as of the
date of measurement. We believe the number of registered members is an indicator of the
growth of our network and our ability to receive the benefits of the network effects resulting from
such growth. Growth in our member base depends, in part, on our ability to successfully develop
and market our solutions to professionals who have not yet become members of our network.
Member growth will also be contingent on our ability to translate our offerings into additional
languages, create more localized products in certain key markets, and more broadly expand our
member base internationally. We believe that a higher number of registered members will result
in increased sales of our Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions and Premium Subscriptions, as
customers will have access to a larger pool of professional talent. However, a higher number of
registered members will not immediately increase sales, nor will a higher number of registered
members in a given region immediately increase sales in that region, as growth of sales and
marketing activities generally takes more time to develop than membership growth.
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