LinkedIn Ups Price Of IPO To $42 To $45 Per Share, Valuation Now Over $4 Billion

Wow. According to this filing, professional social network LinkedIn has just upped the pricing of its IPO from between $32 and $35 per share to $42 to $45 per share. This latest pricing, which marks a 30 percent increase, values the company at over $4 billion (from a $3 billion plus valuation at the previous price).

LinkedIn is still offering a total of 7,840,000 shares and is looking to raise as much as $406 million in the offering. LinkedIn says it will use these funds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, sales and marketing activities, general and administrative matters and capital expenditures. The funds could also be used for acquisitions or investments in complimentary technologies.

The professional social network is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange this Thursday, under the symbol LNKD.

Clearly, LinkedIn is upping the price of the offering because its expects that Wall Street will respond to this increase positively. As we wrote yesterday, LinkedIn is growing revenue—the company just reported that Q1 revenue in 2011 was up 110 percent to $93.9 million. Net income increased to $2.08 million, from $1.81 million in Q1 2010. The increase in sales came from the company’s hiring solutions, a paid offering which helps recruiters search for professionals and list jobs on the site. But the question is whether LinkedIn can accelerate this revenue growth.

But Chinese social networking giant RenRen flopped in its public offering, pricing its IPO at $14 per share. Unfortunately, shares dropped below this offering price shortly after trading began on the NYSE.