• Reuters, Monday, May 16, 2011 12:21 PM

Rather than proceeding with its planned IPO, Viadeo has decided to focus on emerging markets for the time being. What, you ask, is Viadeo? According to Reuters, only the world's second-biggest social network for professionals behind LinkedIn -- which is, in fact, presently preparing to go public.

"The France-based start-up had been mulling an IPO in Europe, the United States or Hong Kong in a bid to surf on a wave of investor interest in technology start-ups that has sent valuations sky-rocketing in recent months," Reuters writes of Viadeo. Yet, despite receiving a lots of interest from the investment community, "We decided that our fundamentals were good enough that we could wait for a listing and instead focus on growing the business," said Dan Serfaty, CEO of Viadeo.

Also, Serfaty said he was worried that a flotation could hamper the company's ability to invest heavily to expand in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America in the coming years.

Read the whole story at Reuters »