The latest round of the Global Business Elite survey shows over a third of the world’s most influential and affluent people using LinkedIn at least once a month. The research shows the same level of penetration for LinkedIn amongst the highest-level C-Suite executives, 118,000 of whom use the network daily. And the platform also reaches 58% of international business travellers. Top business users are amongst LinkedIn’s most engaged and digitally savvy members, with 83% accessing content via a smartphone. And with high personal net worth and big business-purchase budgets, they represent the most valuable consumers on the planet.

1. Global Business Elite 2012

2. Key Highlights
 LinkedIn reaches more Business Elite (459K+) and C-Suite (274K+)
monthly than any other international news and business website
measured.
 LinkedIn attracts the highest number of BE purchase decision makers
(412K+) with high net worth and big purchasing budgets.
 LinkedIn Business Elite are a digitally savvy lot: downloading apps on
their phones, accessing content via smartphones and visiting social
media sites regularly.
 LinkedIn is seen as an important business destination for senior
executives globally as visitors most often come from strategic planning,
management, finance and marketing functions.
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3. LinkedIn reaches more Business Elite monthly
than any other site measured
36% 459K+ BE visit LinkedIn monthly
202K+ BE visit LinkedIn daily
28% 28%
19%
17% 16%
14%
12%
10%
9% 8% 8% 8%
6%
Source: BE: Global 2012 3

4. LinkedIn reaches more C-suite monthly than
any other site measured
36% 274K+ C-suite visit LinkedIn monthly
118K+ C-suite visit LinkedIn daily
28%
27%
21%
19%
15%
13% 12%
11%
9% 9% 8% 7% 6%
Source: BE: Global 2012 4

5. LinkedIn attracts the highest number of
Business Elite Purchase Decision Makers
39% = 412K+
decision makers
>1.3x
monthly
29%
29%
21%
18%
17%
14%
12%
10%
9%
Source: BE: Global 2012 5

6. LinkedIn’s Business Elite are High Net Worth
individuals with big purchasing budgets
Europe US Asia
Average Net Worth €719K $2.4m $1.2m
Average Salary €160K $453K $198K
Purchase Decision Maker 88% 94% 74%
Average Business Purchase €9.2m $20m $4.3m
Business Traveler 83% 90% 81%
C-Suite 57% 65% 44%
Average Age 44 yrs. 51 yrs. 46 yrs.
Source: BE: Global 2012 6

7. LinkedIn’s Business Elite are influencers and
challenge seekers
79% Influence people’s opinions, actions
and decisions
76% enjoy engaging on international
news, issues, business practices or culture
75% find it important that companies are
viewed as innovators
70% pursue challenge, novelty and change
Note: Global data here includes US and Europe audience only. Source: BE: Global 2012 7

8. LinkedIn’s Business Elite are digitally-savvy
Download new app for 61%
LinkedIn
smartphone/ tablet monthly 48% BE Global
Access news via app on 69%
smartphone/ tablet monthly 57%
Access content via 83%
smartphone monthly 70%
Access content via tablet
monthly 54%
44%
Visit a social media 64%
website monthly 44%
Source: BE: Global 2012 8

9. LinkedIn’s Business Elite work mostly in Strategic
Planning, GM, Finance and Marketing
Corporate/Strategic Planning 51%
General Management 46%
Finance (Treasury/Fin Svc/ Foreign Ex./
Cap Mkt/Funds etc) 30%
LinkedIn
Marketing/Advertising/ Communications 28%
IT/Telecom 22%
Domestic/ International Sales 18%
HR/Training 17%
E-Commerce/Internet Strategy 17%
Purchasing/Leasing 15%
Premises/Property/Production/
Factory/Quality mgmt 14%
Source: BE: Global 2012 9

10. Appendix
Business Elite: Background and Methodology
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11. Who are the Business Elite?
Although Business Elite only represents
0.16% of the World’s population, they are
disproportionately influential relative to their
BE:Global size.
1.36m
database
The Business Elite includes job titles like:
Owner, Partner, President, Chairman, VP, SV
P, EVP, C-suite, MD, Departmental Director/
Manager, GM and other executives.
General population
The C-Suite job titles includes:
836m
CEO, CMO, CIO, CPO, CTO et al.
Source: BE: Global 2012 11

12. Background
The series of surveys now called the Business Elite first appeared in 1973 as the
European Businessmen Readership Survey (EBRS).
The Asia study was launched in 1985, followed by surveys in Japan (1998), Central
Europe (2000), Australia (2005) and the United States (2006). Similar studies are run in
Latin America and the Middle East.
Objectives of the BE set of surveys are:
1. To estimate the size and scope of the business elite audience;
2. To measure their media consumption and business decision-making influence;
3. To support campaign planning targeted at the most senior business executives
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13. Methodology
The BE:Global is a harmonised database containing variables common to at least two of
the three regional surveyed. It contains data from BE: Asia 2012, BE: Europe 2012 and
BE:USA 2012. 2012 Global Sample = 16,506
How are the surveys conducted:
1. Companies identified from business directories
2. Executives screened via telephone
3. Questionnaire sent via mail for self-completion
International news and Business sites measured across at least 2 of the 3 regions:
bbc.com, bloomberg.com (incorp. bloombergmarkets.com) , businessweek.com
, cnbc.com, cnn.com, economist.com, forbes.com, ft.com (Financial Times)
news.google.com, news.yahoo.com, nytimes.com (The New York Times/International
Herald Tribune), wsj.com (The Wall Street Journal) , linkedin.com, twitter.com
and, dailybeast.com (incorp. newsweek.com)
Sites measured but not shown in this presentation: cnnmoney.com (incorp
fortune.com), euronews.net, ), hbr.org, nationalgeographic.com, reuters.com time.com
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