LinkedIn says it had a net loss during the third quarter of $1.6 million – as opposed to the net income of $4 million it earned during the third quarter of 2010.

“The latest quarter marked the first time that LinkedIn has recorded a loss since the final three months of 2009,” The Associated Press reported citing company documents.

The news had an impact with investors on Thursday. The AP reported that LinkedIn's stock fell by more than 9 percent. The shares lost $8.19 to $79.31 in Thursday's extended trading, The AP adds.

Even with the net loss, LinkedIn reported third quarter revenue of $139.5 million, an increase of 126 percent compared to $61.8 million for the same period last year, according to a company press release.

In addition, the number of LinkedIn members increased to 131.2 million during the third quarter, which was a 63 percent jump from the number of members in the third quarter of 2010.

The news comes as LinkedIn filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell about $100 million of its shares, according to a company statement.

Also, during the recent third quarter LinkedIn saw unique visitors of about 87.6 million a month, which is a 64 percent boost from the number in the third quarter of last year, according to comScore data cited by the company. In addition, the company saw page views of 7.6 billion, which works out to a 51 percent jump when compared to the third quarter of 2010, the company said.

“LinkedIn had a strong third quarter, with significant, broad-based growth across all of our revenue streams, member engagement metrics, geographies, and sales channels,” Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, said in the press release. “Our results underscore the long-term strength of our global platform and our business model.”

“The company posted its eighth straight quarter of accelerated revenue growth and achieved record engagement on the LinkedIn platform,” Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn, added in the press release. “We delivered strong adjusted EBITDA and record levels of operating and free cash flow. LinkedIn plans to maintain a long-term perspective with investment in our key strategic areas.”

During the recent quarter, LinkedIn opened its first office in Germany and opened an office in Japan.

Looking ahead, LinkedIn said that its revenue for the fourth quarter 2011 will be between $154 million and $158 million. In addition, the company is predicting that revenue for the full year of 2011 will be between $508 million and $512 million.

In a related matter, TechZone360 reported that LinkedIn now has more social networking features. For example, company profiles can include status updates of up to 500 characters and can post links to photos. Other users can comment on status updates.

In another matter, LinkedIn said it added 282 employees in the third quarter, and now has about 1,800 employees.