A million people are LinkedIn in the UAE

LinkedIn opens an office in Dubai Internet City as one million users claimed in the UAE.

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LinkedIn says it has one million users based in the UAE - a fifth of its entire membership base in the Middle East and North Africa.

The business-networking site today opened an office in Dubai with the intention of boosting revenues from this region.

It will initially have seven staff based here, who will focus on the sale of corporate recruiting services.

LinkedIn claims 175 million members worldwide.

"There are over a million of those members here in the United Arab Emirates, and greater than five million members currently in the Middle East," said Farhan Syed, the director of global sales strategy at LinkedIn.

"Every second of every day, two new members join LinkedIn. And we're excited to see that growth continue globally, and especially here in the Middle East," he said.

LinkedIn, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, reported an 89 per cent rise in global revenues to $228.2 million for the second quarter of this year, beating analysts' expectations.

More than half of LinkedIn's revenues come from its hiring-solutions division, in which revenues rose to US$121.6m (Dh446.6m) in the second quarter of, a 107 per cent increase on the same period last year.

It is this division on which the Dubai office will focus, said Mr Syed. The company plans to retain the Dubai-based agency Clique Media, which currently handles LinkedIn's ad sales across the Mena region.

The launch of LinkedIn's operations in Dubai comes just months after Facebook's high-profile entry to the market. Both social networks are based at Dubai Internet City.

bflanagan@thenational.ae