LinkedIn Will Price at $45 a Share (Yes, That Would Be a $4.5B Valuation)

According to a press release about to post, LinkedIn will price its shares at $45 each in its IPO tomorrow.

The price, at the top of its range, will give the Silicon Valley business networking company a $4.5 billion valuation.

That’s a stunning number for LinkedIn and a sign that the once moribund market for Internet companies is back, with investors clamoring to be part of the Web game again.

It’s also stunning given LinkedIn earned just over $15 million on revenues of $243 million last year.

But it does have 100 million business users and seems to be the spear tip of a number of promising Web companies that are expected to be coming to market, including Facebook, Groupon and Zynga.

LinkedIn’s stock is set to begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the LNKD ticker.

And here is the official press release:

LinkedIn Corporation Prices Initial Public Offering

Mountain View, Calif.–May 18, 2011 — LinkedIn Corporation, the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 7,840,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $45.00 per share. A total of 4,827,804 shares are being offered by LinkedIn Corporation, and a total of 3,012,196 shares are being offered by selling stockholders. In addition, LinkedIn Corporation has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,176,000 shares to cover over-allotments, if any. LinkedIn will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

The bookrunning managers of the offering are Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC. Allen & Company LLC and UBS Securities LLC are the co-managers. LinkedIn’s common stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “LNKD.”

The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus , copies of which may be obtained from the offices of Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, or by email at prospectus@morganstanley.com; BofA Merrill Lynch, 4 World Financial Center, New York, NY 10080, Attention: Prospectus Department, or email dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com; or J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, or by telephone at (866) 803-9204.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to their registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.