Investing.com -- Shares in LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD) plunged more than 23% in after-hours trading after the business-oriented social networking service posted worse than expected quarterly earnings on Thursday.
LinkedIn, one of the world's largest professional networking web sites, posted a net loss of $43 million attributable to common stockholders for the first quarter of the year, compared with a loss of $13 million for the same period last year.
During the quarter revenue increased to $638 million, a 35% increase from $473 million in the first quarter of 2014. Revenues from LinkedIn's premium subscriptions rose 28% on a year-over-year basis to $122 million for the quarter. The company's revenue from international markets totaled $248 million, representing 39% of its total revenue.
LinkedIn's membership has grown by more than 16% over the last year to approximately 350 million users.
The first quarter was a "solid quarter in which we made meaningful progress against our multi-year strategic roadmap," LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said in a statement. "During the quarter, we maintained steady growth in member engagement while achieving strong financial results."
In terms of forward guidance, the company is projecting a 0.28 EPS for the second quarter far below analysts' forecasts of 0.74.
Shares in LinkedIn tumbled 59.13 or 23.45% in after-hours to 193.00. Previously, LinkedIn shares had been up by more than 60% in the last year.