LinkedIn said it would cut more than 700 jobs, and close its China-focused InCareers app
LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social network focused on business professionals, said Monday it will cut 716 jobs as demand fluctuates, while also shutting down China-focused hiring.
LinkedIn, which has 20,000 employees, has grown its revenue each quarter over the past year, but it is joining other big tech companies including its parent company in layoffs amid a weak global economic outlook.
In the past six months, more than 270,000 tech jobs have been cut globally, according to layoffs.fyi, which tracks the fallout.
LinkedIn makes money through ad sales and also by charging subscriptions to recruiters and sales professionals who use the network to find leads.
In a letter to employees, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said the move to cut roles in the sales, operations and support teams was aimed at streamlining the company’s operations and would remove layers to help make faster decisions.
“As the market becomes more volatile and customer demand increases, and to more effectively serve emerging and growing markets, we are expanding the use of vendors,” Roslansky wrote.
A LinkedIn spokesperson said the vendors are “external partners” who will take on new and existing business.
Roslansky also said in the letter that the changes will lead to the creation of 250 new jobs. The spokesperson said employees affected by the cuts will be eligible to apply for these roles.
LinkedIn also said it had canceled its job application Skinny in China after it decided in 2021 to withdraw mostly from the country, citing a “difficult” environment. LinkedIn said the remaining China app, called InCareers, will be phased out by August 9.
“Despite our initial progress, InCareer faced fierce competition and a difficult macroeconomic climate, which ultimately led us to the decision to discontinue the service,” the company told site users.
A company spokesperson said that LinkedIn will maintain a presence in China to help companies operating there recruit and train employees outside the country.
In the technology sector, large companies accounted for the bulk of recent layoffs, including 27,000 at Amazon, the most in its history.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms dropped 21,000, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, laid off 12,000. Before LinkedIn’s announcement, 5,000 tech jobs were cut in the month of May alone, according to Layoffs.fyi. Microsoft, which bought LinkedIn for roughly $26 billion (roughly Rs. 2,13,100 crores) in 2016, has announced 10,000 job cuts in recent months and is charging $1.2 billion (roughly Rs. 9,800 crores) in layoff-related fees.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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