Briefs

LinkedIn’s early investors are looking to cash out their stakes in the professional-networking site, whose shares are up 74 percent since its IPO in May. The company’s secondary stock offering aims to sell as many as 9.2 million shares, three-quarters of which are from existing investors. Bain Capital Ventures, which led a $53 million round of funding in LinkedIn in June 2008, plans to sell off its entire 3.71 million share stake. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, CFO Steve Sordello, and director David Sze will each sell 10 percent of their personal holdings. LinkedIn reported a net loss of $1.6 million in the third quarter, driven by increased spending on research and development.

Eight years after Apple opened its iTunes store, Google is launching a music market that lets users store songs online and listen to tracks on multiple devices. Google Music will sell tunes from several labels, including three of the four majors: Universal Music, Sony, and EMI Group. The new service will have exclusive content by artists like Busta Rhymes and the Rolling Stones. Self-published artists will be able to sell their songs over the service and keep 70 percent of sales.