447 Public Company 10-Ks Mentioned LinkedIn in 2025, More Than Triple the 2020 Count
Limitations:. Published October 2026.
LinkedIn has moved from a footnote to a regular line item in annual reports. This study covers every 10-K filing on SEC EDGAR that mentions LinkedIn, year by year since EDGAR full-text coverage begins in 2001, and the subset of those filings that also use lead-generation language.
Key findings
- 447 10-K filings mentioned LinkedIn in 2025, up from 140 in 2020.
- Those 447 filings came from 438 distinct SEC registrants.
- 75 10-K filings in 2025 mentioned LinkedIn alongside a lead-generation term ("lead generation", "generate leads", "sales leads" or "demand generation"), more than double the 34 filings in 2020.
- The lead-generation count peaked at 84 filings in 2023.
- 10-Ks that mention LinkedIn together with "demand generation" rose from 8 in 2020 to 21 in 2025, and reached 26 in the first nine months of 2026.
- 69.1% of the 346 LinkedIn plus lead-generation filings from 2021 to 2025 came from companies in the services SIC division, led by prepackaged software (SIC 7372) with 95 filings.
- The first 10-K in the EDGAR full-text index to mention LinkedIn was filed in 2007.
LinkedIn in annual reports: from zero to hundreds
No 10-K in the full-text index mentions LinkedIn before 2007. The count reached 19 filings in 2010, passed 100 in 2013, and then held between 110 and 140 a year from 2014 through 2020.
The second step up came after 2020. Filings mentioning LinkedIn rose to 214 in 2021, 298 in 2022, 366 in 2023, 383 in 2024 and 447 in 2025. Through September 30, 2026, 389 10-Ks have already mentioned LinkedIn, which puts this year on pace to match or pass 2025.
The lead-generation subset
A mention of LinkedIn can mean many things in a 10-K: a risk factor about social media, a hiring channel, or a list of platforms where a company publishes news. To isolate sales use, the lead-generation subset counts filings where LinkedIn appears in the same document as at least one lead-generation phrase.
That subset grew from 34 filings in 2020 to 84 in 2023, then settled at 83 in 2024 and 75 in 2025. The 2026 count through September is 73, close to last year's full-year total with a quarter still to go.
| Year | 10-Ks mentioning LinkedIn | With a lead-generation term | "Lead generation" | "Demand generation" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 2 |
| 2015 | 124 | 33 | 25 | 2 |
| 2020 | 140 | 34 | 28 | 8 |
| 2021 | 214 | 43 | 36 | 11 |
| 2022 | 298 | 61 | 45 | 23 |
| 2023 | 366 | 84 | 58 | 26 |
| 2024 | 383 | 83 | 55 | 25 |
| 2025 | 447 | 75 | 55 | 21 |
| 2026 (Jan to Sep) | 389 | 73 | 48 | 26 |
The share of LinkedIn-mentioning 10-Ks that also use lead-generation language was 24.3% in 2020 and 16.8% in 2025. Total LinkedIn mentions grew faster than the lead-generation subset, which suggests LinkedIn is now named across more parts of the annual report, not only in sales and marketing sections.
The phrase "sales and marketing" appears in 260 of the 447 LinkedIn-mentioning 10-Ks filed in 2025, up from 91 filings in 2020.
Which companies write about it
Across 2021 to 2025, 346 unique 10-K filings mentioned LinkedIn with a lead-generation term. By SIC division:
| SIC division | Filings 2021 to 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Services (70-89) | 239 | 69.1% |
| Manufacturing (20-39) | 56 | 16.2% |
| Finance, insurance, real estate (60-67) | 35 | 10.1% |
| Retail trade (52-59) | 6 | 1.7% |
| Transportation, communications, utilities (40-49) | 5 | 1.4% |
| Wholesale trade (50-51) | 5 | 1.4% |
Software and IT services dominate. Prepackaged software (SIC 7372) accounts for 95 filings, followed by computer processing and data preparation (7374) with 34, and computer programming and data processing (7370) and miscellaneous business services (7389) with 27 each. Advertising agencies (7311) and pharmaceutical preparations (2834) each contribute 10.
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About the data
- Data: the full text of 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR, which covers filings from 2001 onward, as of October 2, 2026. Form type 10-K includes 10-K/A amendments, which make up about 5% of matched documents.
- Period: calendar years by filing date, 2001 to 2025, plus January 1 to September 30, 2026.
- Exact phrases: "LinkedIn" on its own, and "LinkedIn" together with "lead generation", "generate leads", "sales leads", "demand generation" or "sales and marketing".
- Counts: each count is a number of unique filings (by accession number), not documents or exhibits. The "lead-generation term" figure counts filings that match any of the four lead-generation phrases. Company counts use distinct CIKs. SIC codes are those recorded for each filer on EDGAR.
- Limitations: matches are co-occurrence within the same document, not proximity, so a filing can mention LinkedIn and lead generation in unrelated sections. Counts are not expressed as a share of all 10-Ks filed. Not all mentions are about using LinkedIn for sales: some filings reference LinkedIn as a competitor, a platform risk, or a corporate owner. 2026 is a partial year.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR full-text search: sec.gov/edgar/search/
- SEC SIC code list: sec.gov/search-filings/standard-industrial-classification-sic-code-list
Source: Hollerly, LinkedIn in Public Company Filings, October 2026. https://hollerlyai.com/research/linkedin-in-public-filings
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