Executive of the Year: Jeff Weiner, the new king of social media

Silicon Valley Business Journal by Cromwell Schubarth, Senior Technology Reporter

Date: Friday, January 4, 2013, 12:01am PST - Last Modified: Friday, January 4, 2013, 11:07am PST

Photo: Vicki Thompson

LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner, this year's Silicon Valley Executive of the Year, has driven ten-fold growth in revenue for the past four years.

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Cromwell Schubarth: Senior Technology Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal; Email | Twitter | Google+

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner didn’t know on the day his company went public that he was setting a bar no other social media company would clear in the foreseeable future.
The company’s shares more than doubled to $94.25 on May 19, 2011, the day of the IPO.
Since then, the professional networking site has defied the ugly gravity clawing at the stock of other social media companies including Facebook, Zynga and Groupon.

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Flush with success that day, Weiner momentarily lost the focus and intensity that had propelled him to his huge win. During an all-staff webcast beamed around the world from LinkedIn’s New York headquarters, he paused for a moment and looked down.
Then he looked back up.
It was a good day, Weiner said, his voice wavering slightly. He was glad his parents, who live nearby, could be there. They told him they were very proud.
LinkedIn staffers were moved as much as their boss. One of them was Bryan Breckenridge, who helps nonprofits use LinkedIn tools: “I just started crying right away.”
Weiner for a moment shared a side of himself normally known only to friends and close colleagues. But he quickly snapped back into the form that in four years has helped him transform LinkedIn from a nerdy resume-posting site into the most economically ambitious, sustainable social network on the planet.
“The reason that LinkedIn is a success is because, unlike other social media, it offers connections you would actually pay to get,” said Altimeter Group founder and social media consultant Charlene Li. “There is no question in my mind that it wouldn’t be what it is today without him.”