VENTURE CAPITAL POST

NerdWallet said it had raised $64 million in its first round of funding, far more cash than it needs to run the personal finance startup, in part to underscore its growth and show it has the potential to one day be valued at over $1 billion.

Another day, another shock for investors in social media stocks. Shares of LinkedIn Corp, operator of the most popular social network for professionals, fell 20 percent in early trading on Friday, wiping out more than $6 billion of market value, after the company slashed its full-year forecast.

Professional social network operator LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N) said it would buy privately held online education company lynda.com in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion.

China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the world's largest e-commerce firm, has begun hunting staff in Seattle, home turf of Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, focusing on savvy cloud computing hires as it ramps up U.S. operations.

Corporate networking site LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue as more businesses used its services to hire staff.

LinkedIn Corp is attempting to become more like Facebook Inc by encouraging all members to generate a steady stream of shareable articles, a perk once available only to well-known business personalities.