The world's premier social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn, has experienced a significant plunge in its stock prices after the company reported relatively disappointing fourth-quarter results, according to The Wall Street Journal.
After the social media company's announced report on Thursday, its stocks plummeted 28 percent, reaching as low as $138.99 during after-hours trading. Analysts believe that the plunge was attributed primarily to a disappointing outlook and earnings guidance.
Part of the rather disappointing results came from LinkedIn's forecast for the first quarter of 2016, where the company stated that it is expecting about $820 million in revenue, with earnings per share reaching 55 cents, reported Yahoo! News.
The figures, though quite significant, were far below the $867 million revenue that analysts were expecting. Analysts originally forecasted that LinkedIn would earn about $3.9 billion for 2016.
However, despite the relatively disappointing outlook for the coming year, LinkedIn did announce that its performance for the last quarter of 2015 surpassed expectations, bringing in $862 million as opposed to analysts' forecast of $858 million, according to Tech Crunch.
LinkedIn's adjusted earnings also reached 94 cents during the previous quarter, besting the 78 cents that was originally predicted.
In the world of casual social media platforms, LinkedIn has made a name for itself by targeting the professional community. Currently, the company boasts about 414 million members, with about 100 million unique visitors each month.
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