LinkedIn: Is It Dot.Com All Over Again?

Shares of business networking site LinkedIn LNKD are absolutely soaring in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, fueling talk of another bubble in internet stocks. The company raised $352.8 million in its IPO by selling 7.84 million shares, or 8% of the company, for $45 each. Currently, LNKD's valuation has nearly doubled in early trading, with the stock up 88.44% from the $45 offering price to $84.66. According to Briefing.com, LNKD started trading at $83, underscoring the tremendous demand from the public who were not able to get in at the IPO price. Initially, the company set an expected price range for the shares between $32 to $35, but that was raised on Tuesday to $42 to $45 due to institutional demand. The deal underwriters included Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan. The deal is the biggest IPO since Google's GOOG in 2004. In its first few minutes trading on the NYSE, the stock traded as high as $90, which gave LNKD a valuation of roughly $8.5 billion - which is staggering considering the company only had revenues of around $243 million and earnings of $15 million last year. While the jury is still out on the future potential of the company, skeptics abound. Last night, when the deal priced at $45, many in the investment community found it almost comical given the company's meager earnings and revenues. Now at $85, some can't help but wonder if this deal isn't harkening us back to the internet bubble. Does anyone remember the day that the TheStreet.com TST priced at $9 in its Nasdaq debut only to open at $65? The other consideration is how is this going to effect the private market valuations of companies that are even hotter than LinkedIn such as Facebook, Groupon, and Twitter? Given the demand for LNKD, these companies should see their valuations skyrocket in private market trading on sites such as Second Market and SharesPost.