Rupert Murdoch is in talks to buy the social networking site LinkedIn, according to reports.
According to The Sunday Express, Murdoch is offering £500 million for the professional networking service, which has over 16 million registered users. Talks apparently began three weeks ago, and the acquisition is likely to take place in January 2008.
However, LinkedIn CEO, Dan Nye was reported last week in Fortune as saying that it would take a “lot more” than $1 billion to buy the company. In that same article Nye estimated that LinkedIn revenue would be between $75 and $100 million in 2008.
Murdoch and his company News Corporation have previous experience in the social networking market, having bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million. The site has enjoyed healthy growth since then, and now claims over 200 million users.
News Corporation and LinkedIn refused to comment at the time of writing.
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