(Reuters): LinkedIn, the social media network owned by Microsoft Corp that focuses on business professionals, said Monday it would cut 716 jobs as demand wavers while shutting down its China-focused job application.
LinkedIn has 20,000 employees and has grown quarterly revenue during the last year. Still, it joins other major technology companies, including its parent, in laying off workers amid a weakening global economic outlook.
In the past six months, more than 270,000 tech jobs globally have been cut in the past six months, according to Layoff.fyi, which has been tracking the fallout.
LinkedIn makes money through ad sales and charging for subscriptions to recruiting and sales professionals who use the network to find prospects.
In a letter to employees, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said the move to cut roles in its sales, operations and support teams was aimed at streamlining the company’s processes and would remove layers to help make quicker decisions.
“With the market and customer demand fluctuating more, and to serve emerging and growth markets more effectively, we are expanding the use of vendors,” Roslansky wrote.
A LinkedIn spokesperson said the vendors were “external partners” who would undertake new and existing work.
Roslansky also said in the letter that the changes would create 250 jobs. The spokesperson said that employees affected by the cuts would be eligible to apply for those roles.
LinkedIn also said it was eliminating the slimmed-down jobs app it offers in China after it decided in 2021 to mostly withdraw from the country, citing a “challenging” environment. The remaining China app, called InCareers, will be phased out by Aug. 9, LinkedIn said.
“Despite our initial progress, InCareer faced fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate, which ultimately led us to the decision of discontinuing the service,” the company told users of the website.
LinkedIn will retain a presence in China to help companies operating there to hire and train employees outside the country, the company spokesperson said.
Large companies have accounted for most recent layoffs in the tech sector, including 27,000 at Amazon.com Inc., the most in its history.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. shed 21,000, and Google parent Alphabet Inc. has laid off 12,000.
Before LinkedIn’s announcement, 5,000 technology jobs had been eliminated in May alone, according to Layoffs.fyi.
Microsoft, which bought LinkedIn for around $26 billion in 2016, has announced some 10,000 job cuts in recent months and took a $1.2 billion charge related to the layoffs.
