Hamburg-based XING AG grows to over 200 employees

• The 200th employee will be supporting the team in Barcelona as a Community Manager

• Market leader in Spain intends to grow to over 1 million members

Hamburg, February 18, 2009 - The publicly traded XING AG in Hamburg reaches another milestone in the company’s history and welcomes their 200th employee, Cristina García Rodríguez. Ms. García Rodríguez, who studied journalism and had been working the area of SEM marketing at Yahoo in Ireland prior to joining XING, will support the team in Barcelona as a Community Manager in order to promote the growth of the international professional network in Spanish-speaking regions, as well. With her arrival, the Spanish team alone will now consist of 10 employees. “One of the reasons business people throughout Europe choose XING for their business networking is that we are able to assist our members locally and in their native language. This helps us to increase their level of activity on the platform, which is the most important factor for success in our opinion," explains Thorsten Vespermann, Director Corporate Communications at XING AG. Currently around seven million professionals are connected to each other through XING. In addition to the number of members that is growing rapidly internationally, the Hamburg networkers know that support provided locally and in the national language is an important factor for promoting the activities of the members, especially in the regions near the Mediterranean. “Business networking is fun and becomes a significant factor for success for professionals when they are able to have discussions with each other on XING in regional and specialist groups, as well, or attend events in their region where they can meet each other, “ explains Thorsten Vespermann. The example of Spain shows that a local community management team can help XING dramatically increase the level of activity on the platform, which in turn attracts more new members from the region. Since the office in Barcelona opened a year ago, more than 900 new Spanish-speaking groups have been formed. They focus on a wide variety of topics ranging from Internet technologies to project management, and include regional groups in major cities and in regions such as Almeria and the Balearic Islands. Additionally, the number of events organized through XING by its members has more than tripled in all parts of Spain. In 2008 alone, more than 55,000 public events were organized through the platform. Because of the growing level of activity of the members, the company is expecting to further expand its leading market position in Spain and, as the first business network in the country, to grow to more than one million members. About XING
XING is the leading network for business contacts in Europe. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools.
With the successful IPO of XING as the first Web 2.0 company to go public, XING AG has had a long-term impact on the social networking trend amongst professionals. By focusing on the target group 'business people worldwide', the company is able to offer tailored features, thereby making networking and contact management simpler. Besides Headquarters in Hamburg, XING AG is also represented with offices in Barcelona, Istanbul and Beijing.
XING. Powering Relationships.