LinkedIn To Cut More Jobs, In Second Round Of Layoffs

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has confirmed it is to reduce its workforce for the second time this year.

In an ‘October Update’ blog post, LinkedIn said that it will axe “approximately 668 roles across our engineering, product, talent and finance teams” – a move that impacts 3 percent of the 20,000-strong staff at the platform.

This is second tranche of job cuts at the business-focused social network. In May this year LinkedIn announced it was closing its remaining service (a jobs app) in China and would also cut 716 jobs as well.

Job losses

At the time LinkedIn cited a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements” as being behind the move to close its LinkedIn jobs site in China.

LinkedIn chief executive Ryan Roslansky said in May that the firm would cut 716 jobs worldwide, including the product and engineering teams in China.

That decision had been made amid shifts in customer behaviour and slower revenue growth, the CEO had stated.

And now five months later, LinkedIn has confirmed that more jobs are to be lost.

“Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” said the firm in its blog post. “The changes we shared with our team today will result in a reduction of approximately 668 roles across our engineering, product, talent and finance teams.”

“While we are adapting our organisational structures and streamlining our decision making, we are continuing to invest in strategic priorities for our future and to ensure we continue to deliver value for our members and customers,” LinkedIn added.

“We are committed to providing our full support to all impacted employees during this transition and ensuring that they are treated with care and respect,” it concluded.

The jobs losses come despite the firm continuing to grow financially.

LinkedIn announced in its most recent earnings report that it had surpassed $15 billion in revenue for the first time during this fiscal year, and that its membership growth “accelerated” for the eighth quarter in a row.

Microsoft cuts

Microsoft of course owns LinkedIn, having purchased the social network for $26.2 billion (£21.6bn) in 2016.

Microsoft meanwhile has carried multiple rounds of layoffs in the past year.

In January 2023 it announced it was axing 10,000 job losses, or 5 percent of the workforce.

Then in July this year reports of more job losses emerged online, as the tech giant sought to respond to customers seeking ways to reduce their cloud computing spend.

Those job cuts came as part of Microsoft’s annual structural adjustment in the summer, and exact numbers were not confirmed, but reports suggested 276 jobs alone had been axed in its home state of Washington.

2022 Layoffs

It should be remembered that Microsoft had already made a number of job cuts during 2022.

In May 2022 a senior Microsoft executive warned the management of the Windows and Office divisions to adopt a more conservative approach to hiring new people.

Then in early July 2022 Microsoft cut less than 1 percent of jobs as part of an annual structural adjustment, which it said was routinely carried out every summer.

Later that same month Microsoft began withdrawing job openings in its Azure and security divisions, as its hiring slowdown extended to other divisions.

Then in October 2022 Microsoft confirmed a second round of job losses (reportedly under 1,000 jobs) across multiple divisions but did not confirm actual numbers let go.

Microsoft at the time blamed weaker sales of Windows licenses for PCs, as the economy weakened and PC shipments continued to fall.