LinkedIn filed for a secondary offering of $1 billion on Tuesday to boost the US-based social media company’s funding for acquisitions and international expansion. [CREDIT: TheSeafarer via Creative Commons]

LinkedIn filed for a secondary offering of $1 billion on Tuesday to boost the US-based social media company’s funding for acquisitions and international expansion. The public offering for LinkedIn’s Class A common stocks will be used to develop products and services, which centre on network building among professionals.

The Silicon Valley group is giving underwriters, such as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley, the option to buy an additional $150 million worth of shares.

Founders of the company will also remain in control. Reid Hoffman, chairman of the group, will wield 59.3 percent of the voting power of outstanding capital stock as he holds Class B stocks worth 10 votes per share.

LinkedIn estimates its cash by investors will rise to $2 billion to give it 'financial flexibility' in expanding its data centre infrastructure and acquiring businesses that support the group both as a social network and content hub.

In April, the group acquired Pulse, a startup mobile news aggregator, for $90 million. But while the tool would prove useful when navigating through third-party news content, it is the original articles published through the Influencer programme that have generated the highest traffic. The list of thought leaders who guest post on the site has grown from 150 to 300 contributors less than a year after the programme was launched.

'Accelerated member growth and strong engagement' propelled LinkedIn's performance in the second quarter, according to CEO Jeff Weiner. The company exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of 38 cents on revenue of $364 million.

The site has 238 million members, up by 37% since 2012. The increase has led the company to lease an additional data centre in Virginia for $109 million to manage the traffic surge.