SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – LinkedIn finished last year with better-than-expected financial results, but a weak forecast for 2016 is sending the company’s stock plunging more than 25 percent.
The online professional networking service reported earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street’s estimates for the fourth quarter of 2015. But the company still reported a loss of $8.4 million, compared with a $3 million profit a year earlier. And it issued a forecast that was far below what analysts were expecting.
In addition, LinkedIn said it will phase out a new advertising service that hasn’t worked out as planned, which will cause it to forego roughly $50 million in near-term revenue.