LinkedIn has become the first privately-held social media company to go public by selling its shares at $45 per unit. Surprisingly, in the first day of trading shares rose as 171 percent and closed at $94.25, more than 109 percent above the initial price. According to www.reuters.com, to date 7.84 million shares have been sold, which puts the company at a valuation of about $4.3 billion.

The time of great changes has come for McDonald’s. Despite of the +$1 billion overhaul that the company plans to complete by 2015 to ultimately change the face of its restoraunts, the brand is under pressure to discard its other iconic face, Ronald McDonald.

The campaign against McDonald’s symbol and point of communication with young consumers is gaining momentum as a group of activist physicians and health conscious people are pursuading McDonald’s to give a boot to its 43-year-old mascot.