Xing boosted by members paying to network

FRANKFURT, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Online social network Xing's (OBCGn.DE) core profit and revenue soared in 2008 thanks to an increase of paying members, beating expectations, the German company said on Wednesday.

Xing, based in the German city of Hamburg, said full-year preliminary earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) adjusted for one-offs rose 86 percent to 12.82 million euros on sales of 35.3 million euros, a gain of 80 percent.

According to a consensus of analysts provided by the company, 2008 sales were seen rising 77 percent to 34.7 million euros.

"The first weeks of the year show that even more business people are choosing Xing across Europe as a business network," the company said in a statement.

Xing offers its 7 million users services including recruitment marketing and contact finding in 16 languages, mainly in Europe and competes with larger unlisted U.S. rival LinkedIn.

LinkedIn, which is expanding in Europe and launched its German site last week, has over 5 million users in Europe and over 35 million worldwide, according to its website.

Both companies have benefited from the economic crisis which has sparked a spike in usage of professional networks as people hedge against losing work and laid-off employees seek jobs.

Xing was the first online community to go public -- in 2006 -- and makes most of its revenues from premium memberships that offer higher-quality contact introductions and more targeted services than free membership.

It said paying members generated around 80 percent of its overall 2008 revenues -- or more than 28 million euros.