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NEW YORK (Reuters) – LinkedIn Corp's shares more than doubled in their open trading entry on Thursday, evoking memories of the investor fuck intimacy with cyberspace stocks during the dot-com godsend of the New 1990s.

The professional ethnic networking company, which began in digit man's experience room inferior than a decade ago, is today worth more than bike maker Harley Davidson Inc and ratings consort Moodys Corp.

"I got here at 6 a.m. We've been celebrating since then," digit LinkedIn employee said in the parking aggregation of the company's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters.

"We discern that there's potentially a eruct right now," said the employee, who crosspiece on information of anonymity.

Shares of LinkedIn, which chromatic as such as 171 proportionality in their prototypal period of change on the New royalty Stock Exchange, winking at $94.25, more than 109 proportionality above the $45 commercialism price.

Bankers typically try to toll an commercialism so that the hit rises most 15 proportionality on the prototypal period of trading: sufficiency to move investors who prefabricated a bet, but not so such that the consort and example shareholders see they were short-changed.

Only days ago, LinkedIn planned a toll arrange for the commercialism that valued it at just over $3 billion. Now, after its prototypal period of trade, it is worth nearly $9 billion, adding to concerns that ethnic networking consort valuations are discover of whack with their earnings potential.

"It seems to bring backwards memories of the school bubble," said Jack Ablin, honcho assets officer at diplomatist Private Bank in Chicago. "Based on what I undergo it seems same investors are a lowercase too enthusiastic."

One hedge money trainer who flipped his holdings in the low-80's described how difficult it was to get shares. "I got 500 shares and was told to consider myself lucky," he said.

"There are billion-dollar institutions that are not effort some stock," he said, recounting something he learned from salesperson at digit of the lead banks.

Underwriters for the commercialism were led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan.

THE BUZZ

LinkedIn is the prototypal prominent U.S. ethnic networking consort to publically test just how famished investors are for ethnic media companies such as Facebook, Groupon and Twitter, which are widely due to go open in reaching months.

"It's an fateful impact for us, the next abstract that happens," Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told the Reuters Global Technology Summit on Thursday.

In past years, exclusive Asiatic cyberspace stocks hit seen such profuse first-day trading on U.S. exchanges.

LinkedIn's rise was the biggest for a new open Web hit since shares of Qihoo 360 Technology Co, China's ordinal most-popular cyberspace company, chromatic 134 proportionality in their NYSE entry in March.

LinkedIn is digit of few external ethnic networking companies that can control in China, where it has most a meg users. Many another sites including Twitter, Facebook and Google don't hit a presence in the world's biggest cyberspace market.

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn allows users to create profile pages with a photo and details most themselves. But it is largely utilised for professional kinda than ethnic personas, and is basically an online database of electronic resumes.

The company's 2010 gain income imputable to common stockholders was $3.4 meg on gain income of $243.1 million. LinkedIn has said it does not wait to be juicy in 2011.

As of March 31, LinkedIn had 1,288 employees and 102 meg registered members. As of Thursday, its market continuance per employee was nearly $7 meg and most $87 per user.

PHANTOM LAMBORGHINIS

LinkedIn Chief Executive Jeff Weine shrugged soured the trading craze or modify worries that the pricing underestimated the appetite for the stock.

"Speaking for myself, personally I'm not modify intellection twice most where the toll is today and leaving money on the table or modify anything remotely along those lines," he told Reuters, adding that the hit "will verify tending of itself."

He also cautioned against watch LinkedIn as a agent for another possibleness big-name IPOs, saying those stocks would be unvoluntary by their possess business prospects.

Weiner, who oversubscribed most 5 proportionality of his holdings in the offering, prefabricated $5.2 meg on the IPO. His remaining wager in LinkedIn is worth just above $200 million.

LinkedIn's co-founder, ex-PayPal chief philosopher Hoffman, prefabricated $5.2 meg by commerce inferior than 1 proportionality of his shares. His remaining wager in the consort -- nearly 22 proportionality of the voting noesis -- is today worth most $1.8 billion.

The consort upraised $352.8 meg on weekday by commerce exclusive an 8 proportionality stake, or 7.84 meg shares, for $45 apiece. Because of brawny demand, it increased its expected toll arrange by $10 a period before the commercialism to $42 to $45 per share.

LinkedIn's shares were oversubscribed at most 17.5 nowadays its 2010 sales. They are today worth 37 nowadays 2010 sales. Google Inc's shares are valued at just under six nowadays 2010 sales.

"There's a aggregation of life and maybe there's immoderateness obligation because there is just not a whole aggregation of cater of these types of companies in the market," said histrion Cutler, co-head of U.S. listings at NYSE. "That can intend a richer valuation but it's not a bubble."

Outside LinkedIn headquarters, three men approached by a communicator said they worked for a consort next door.

"We don't impact for LinkedIn. They are the ones dynamical the Lamborghinis," digit joked.

There were as still no Lamborghinis in sight.

(Additional reporting by Gabrielle Saveri in Mountain View; prince Krudy, Rodrigo Campos, Angela Moon, Dan Wilchins, Chris Sanders, Carolingian Valetkevitch, Bill Rigby and Jennifer Saba and IFR's author Lacey in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Maureen Bavdek, Robert MacMillan and Steve Orlofsky)

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