Rumours of a possible acquisition of Xing by LinkedIn have sent the German-based professional social network's share price soaring.
According to the specialist media TechCrunch , there are rumours that some of the main shareholders of Xing, employees and former employees, are taking advantage of the moment to sell a large amazon data part of their shares. On the other hand, the German specialist media WuV claims that the rise in shares would be caused by the rumours of the departure of Lars Hinrich, founder and current member of the board of directors of Xing.
Speculations about the possible buyer of Lars Hinrich's shares, who is currently the largest shareholder in Xing, suggest that the possible buyer would be LinkedIn, to whom Xing is a serious competitor in Europe. The acquisition of Xing would allow LinkedIn to consolidate its market position in Europe.
Xing was valued at around 150 million euros a month ago, but rumours are causing its stock value to rise continuously. LinkedIn is worth around three quarters of a trillion euros (more than 700 billion euros) and has 43 million users. Xing has more than eight million users. This situation would make Xing shareholders in favour of a takeover by LinkedIn.