Shares in business-focused social networking site LinkedIn more than doubled on their first day of trading yesterday.

The price for a share in the US-headquartered company began at $45 and rose to $94 before the end of trading. This put the value of the company at $8.5 billion (£5.3 billion), 35 times its revenues last year, making it the largest IPO for a US Internet company since Google went public in 2004.

LinkedIn, which allows users to list their professional achievements, court job offers and make business contacts, is particularly popular in the IT industry. Many businesses now use LinkedIn to indentify potential recruits, while others use it as a marketing channel for business-to-business services. 

A number of social media-related companies are expected to go public this year, including social commerce site Groupon, which turned down a $6 billion offer from Google last year. The giant of the sector, Facebook, is rumoured to be planning an IPO next year.