LinkedIn 2015 Annual Report Download - page 32

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• sales and marketing, including a significant expansion of our field sales organization;
• international expansion in an effort to increase our member base, member activity and sales;
• general administration, including legal and accounting expenses related to our expanding global
presence and the integration of newly acquired businesses; and
• capital expenditures, including facilities and build-out of our data centers.
These investments may not result in increased revenue or business growth, or increased network
growth or member value, and will increase our expenses. Even if our revenue continues to increase,
we expect that due to increased expenses, in particular, stock-based compensation, depreciation and
amortization and provision for income taxes, we may incur a US GAAP loss during future periods. If we
fail to continue to grow our revenue and overall business, our operating results and business would be
harmed.
If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business and operating results could be harmed.
We continue to experience rapid growth in our headcount and operations, which will continue to
place significant demands on our management and our operational and financial infrastructure. As of
December 31, 2015, approximately 35% of our employees had been with us for less than one year and
approximately 59% for less than two years. As we continue to grow, we must effectively integrate,
develop and motivate a large number of new employees in various countries around the world, and we
must maintain the beneficial aspects of our corporate culture. We intend to continue to make
substantial investments to expand our engineering, research and development, field sales, and general
and administrative organizations, and our international operations. To attract top talent, we have had to
offer, and believe we will need to continue to offer, highly competitive compensation packages before
we can validate the productivity of those employees. In addition, fluctuations in the price of our Class A
common stock may make it more difficult or costly to use equity compensation to motivate, incentivize
and retain our employees. We face significant competition for talent from other Internet and high-growth
companies, which include both publicly traded and privately-held companies. The risks of over-hiring
(especially given overall macroeconomic risks) or over-compensating employees and the challenges of
integrating a rapidly growing employee base into our corporate culture are exacerbated by our
international expansion. Additionally, because of our growth, we have significantly expanded our
operating lease and purchase commitments, which have increased our expenses. We may not be able
to hire new employees quickly enough to meet our needs. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring
needs and successfully integrate our new hires, our efficiency and ability to meet our forecasts and our
employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, and our business and operating results could
be adversely affected.
Additionally, if we do not effectively manage the growth of our business and operations, the quality
of our solutions could suffer, which could negatively affect our brand, operating results and overall
business. Further, we have made changes in the past, and will make changes in the future, to our
features, products and services that our members or customers may not like, find useful or agree with.
We may also decide to discontinue certain features, products or services, or charge for certain
features, products or services that are currently free or increase fees for any of our features, products
or services. If members or customers are unhappy with these changes, they may decrease their
engagement on our site, or stop using features, products or services or the site generally. In addition,
they may choose to take other types of action against us such as organizing petitions or boycotts
focused on our company, our website or any of our services, filing claims with the government or other
regulatory bodies, or filing lawsuits against us. Any of these actions could negatively impact our
member growth and engagement and our brand, which would harm our business. To effectively
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