Employment-focused social media platform LinkedIn on Tuesday said it would let go of 716 staffers as it shuts down a job search app in China and prepares for tapering revenue growth.
“As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees,” CEO Ryan Roslansky wrote in a letter to employees, which was later posted as a blog.
As of 2022, LinkedIn’s workforce was estimated to be over 21,000 employees.
The company, according to Roslansky, has been seeing shifts in customer behavior and slower revenue growth. In the quarter ended March, Microsoft saw LinkedIn’s revenue grow 8% year-on-year compared to 10% year-on-year in the previous sequential quarter.
The company’s restructuring policies, which are designed to bring it back on the growth trajectory in FY24, are based on themes such as reorganizing how work gets done, becoming more agile, and aligning the teams for growth, the CEO said.
In an effort to reorganize how work gets done, the company said it will bring teams together in an integrated model with a focus on supporting customers in a better way.
“Also, to accelerate our ease of doing business work, our product and engineering teams will take the lead for our technology roadmap, and the business productivity team will be sunsetted, with some components being integrated into other parts of MCS (marketing communications) or related teams within GTMOps,” Roslansky said.
In order to realign itself according to changing consumer behavior, the company said it would expand the use of vendors.
“We are also removing layers, reducing management roles, and broadening responsibilities to make decisions more quickly,” the CEO said.
While the company is reducing headcount, Roslansky said LinkedIn would spin up 250 new roles in specific segments of its operations, new business, and account management teams starting on May 15.
The new roles, according to the CEO, are part of the company’s efforts to invest in opportunities for profitable growth and capture share amidst the current cycle.
“We are ensuring we have the right roles for the work required,” Roslansky said, adding that the 750 staffers impacted could be considered for the new roles if the company sees a skill fit.
LinkedIn’s change of its China strategy
In addition to laying off staffers, the company is changing its business strategy in China by phasing out the local job app InCareer by August 9, 2023.
Factors such as fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate were responsible for the phasing out of InCareer, the CEO said, adding that LinkedIn China will maintain its talent, marketing, and learning businesses.
As part of the larger growth strategy the company plans to manage expenses while investing in strategic growth areas, Roslansky said.
Layoffs continue in the technology sector
Despite announcing massive layoffs in 2022, technology companies have laid off thousands of employees due to waning sales or a weak economic outlook.
The latest job cuts include Cognizant, IBM spin-off Kyndryl, Red Hat, Amazon, Meta, Google, and Accenture.
In February, Microsoft confirmed it was cutting employees working on its HoloLens, Surface laptop, and Xbox products, as reports surfaced that the tech giant will be laying off 100 employees working for its industrial metaverse team and closing that unit.
In the same month, Microsoft-owned GitHub said it would be cutting 10% of its workforce, or about 300 employees, and moving the remaining staff to remote work in order to safeguard the company’s immediate financial stability.
According to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, the online tracker keeping tabs on job losses in the technology sector, 660 tech companies have laid off about 191,538 staff so far this year, compared to 164,591 layoffs last year.
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