LinkedIn Announces Layoffs of Over 650 Employees in Restructuring Effort

In a recent announcement, LinkedIn, the renowned professional social media platform, revealed that it will be cutting 668 positions spanning its engineering, product development, talent acquisition, and finance departments. This move is part of a broader restructuring initiative aimed at optimizing the company’s organizational structure and streamlining decision-making processes.

The company acknowledged the challenges associated with such talent adjustments but deemed them a necessary aspect of managing their business effectively. It’s worth noting that Microsoft acquired LinkedIn back in 2016.

LinkedIn is currently channeling significant resources into the development of artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, the platform recently introduced an AI-powered candidate discovery feature for recruiters. In Microsoft’s most recent earnings report, LinkedIn credited its AI-driven collaborative articles as the fastest-growing source of traffic on the platform.

This layoff isn’t the first of its kind for LinkedIn this year. In May, the company cut 716 positions and discontinued its jobs app in mainland China. These decisions were attributed to shifts in customer behavior and slower revenue growth, as communicated by CEO Ryan Roslansky in an employee letter.

While many tech companies faced layoffs towards the end of the previous year, LinkedIn experienced an increase in user engagement and “record engagement” among its then 875 million members. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted this growth in an earnings call last October. The company’s financial performance has continued to improve, with its most recent earnings report revealing revenue exceeding $15 billion for the first time in a fiscal year, coupled with eight consecutive quarters of accelerated membership growth.

Tech layoffs return as LinkedIn and Qualcomm announce job cuts

Some Departments Suffer

LinkedIn, a Microsoft-owned entity, recently confirmed a cut of nearly 700 employees, with the majority originating from the engineering department. This information comes from an internal memo obtained by CNBC. Other layoffs affected the finance and human resources divisions, according to an anonymous source due to the confidentiality of the matter.

These staff reductions align with the platform’s struggles in maintaining year-over-year revenue growth. For eight consecutive quarters, revenue growth has been on the decline, reaching just 5% in the second quarter. Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s membership base has experienced consistent growth for the past two years.

LinkedIn’s top executives, Mohak Shroff and Tomer Cohen, detailed the reasoning behind the layoffs in their internal memo. They stressed the need for an evolved organizational structure to enhance agility and accountability, reduce layering, and increase efficiency and transparency.

The recent layoffs at LinkedIn are part of a broader trend at Microsoft, which earlier this year announced a reduction of 10,000 employees, followed by additional layoffs in July. These efforts are part of Microsoft’s strategy to cut costs amid a slowdown in overall revenue growth.

LinkedIn’s current plan includes a significant expansion of its workforce in India, signaling its continued commitment to strategic priorities and the delivery of value to members and customers. The company stated its dedication to providing comprehensive support to affected employees during this transitional phase and ensuring that they are treated with care and respect.”