As a small business owner, I rely heavily on LinkedIn to find new clients, market my services, and recruit talent. So I‘m always interested in how much money LinkedIn is hauling in from me and over 875 million other professionals worldwide.
Turns out 2022 was another banner year for the platform, with no slowdown in sight for 2024.
Talent Solutions: LinkedIn‘s Cash Cow
With a 65% share of total revenue, Talent Solutions is LinkedIn‘s most lucrative unit. It encompasses all the premium tools that enable recruiters and HR professionals to source, screen and manage talent:
- LinkedIn Recruiter – starts at $99/month
- LinkedIn Learning – starts at $49.99/month per user
- LinkedIn Talent Insights – starts at $499.95/month
- LinkedIn Career Pages – starts at $99/month
In 2022, Talent Solutions generated a whopping $10.8 billion, up 29% over 2021. Its net income also rose to $2.5 billion. Much of this growth comes from small and medium businesses increasingly relying on LinkedIn to combat today‘s historically tight labor market.
As a small agency owner, I can‘t imagine finding clients or quality talent without investing in Recruiter and Learning.
Marketing Solutions: LinkedIn‘s Advertising Juggernaut
While individually people aren‘t huge money makers for LinkedIn, en masse we represent an advertising gold mine.
Marketing Solutions allows companies to pay to target ads and content to LinkedIn‘s audience of affluent, ambitious professionals.
Key offerings include:
- Sponsored Content – pay for impressions on the LinkedIn feed
- Sponsored InMail – send direct sponsored messages
- Dynamic Ads – highly targeted campaign based on member data
This segment earned $3.2 billion in 2024, up 15% annually as businesses increased investments across the board. Sponsored Content impressions more than doubled as engagement continued growing.
I alone have noticed a surge in sponsored posts – so it‘s clear where some of those billions are coming from!
Premium Subscriptions: The Underdog Packing Potential
Premium Subscriptions seem almost quaint compared to Marketing Solutions and Talent Solutions. But at $2.9 billion in 2024 revenue (up 8% YoY), it remains a significant part of LinkedIn‘s diverse business model.
Offerings like LinkedIn Premium provide professionals extra features to manage their brand and access career opportunities:
- InMail direct messages
- Profile visibility boosts
- Virtual events and workshops
With 31 million members paying an average of $65/month for these features, the segment should continue strong, steady growth. Especially if LinkedIn keeps improving Premium with more workshops, content and virtual events catered to ambitious professionals.
As a subscriber myself, I find Premium worthwhile as an entrepreneur to directly contact potential partners and stand out in searches.
The Outlook for 2024
In 2023, I expect Talent Solutions to post another standout year (>20% growth) as labor shortages persist, funneling revenue from recruiters and companies struggling to hire.
Premium Subscriptions should also continue moderate growth thanks to LinkedIn‘s focus on enhancing Premium with more valuable features.
All told that leaves LinkedIn earnings cruising well past $17 billion in 2024, meaning this juggernaut‘s dominance over professional networking and opportunities will only intensify this year.
){kind=link}