LinkedIn, the world’s biggest social networking site for professionals, lost 40 percent of its value as the market opened Friday, and the company is citing weakness in its recruitment services business outside North America, SydneyMorningHerald reported.

About $10 billion of LinkedIn’s $25-billion-or-so market cap evaporated instantly, Forbes reported. By mid-afternoon Friday, shares were trading nearly 45 percent below Thursday’s close — LinkedIn’s worst loss ever.

Talent Solutions — LinkedIn’s recruitment business — helps companies find potential employees. LinkedIn is facing pressure in Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions, “given current global economic conditions,” said Chief Financial Officer Steve Sordello in a statement.

LinkedIn has been spending heavily on expansion, buying companies, hiring sales personnel and increasing its presence in China and other markets outside the U.S., SMH reported.

A longtime darling of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, LinkedIn seemed to have a strong and stable management team, a diversified business, and the outlook appeared good, Forbes reported.

Fourth-quarter results beat analysts’ estimates for revenue and earnings but LinkedIn warned that its revenue and earnings for the first quarter and full year would be less than analysts’ estimates.

Why did investors turn on the company so dramatically, and what it will take for LinkedIn to get out of the penalty box?

In today’s markets, even earnings and forecasts that miss Wall Street estimates by a relatively small amount can dramatically hurt a stock, said Victor Anthony, an analyst at Axiom Capital Management.

“We’re dealing with a market that’s unforgiving and unrelenting,” Anthony told Forbes. “Stocks that don’t produce results that are stellar are going to get hit and get hit really bad. Any negativity has led to, in most cases, overreaction.”

LinkedIn typically under-promises and over-delivers on earnings, according to a Quartz brief.