LinkedIn, a platform that facilitates business professionals to hire talent and connect with industry experts, has announced trimming 716 jobs and ceasing its China-focused job application called InCareers.
The Microsoft-owned company announced layoff amid a grim global economic outlook and tepid demand. Notwithstanding the quarter-on-quarter growth that Linkedin ticked for the last year, it has jumped onto the bandwagon of big technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, Meta, Salesforce, and other smaller startups slashing headcounts. LinkedIn has a workforce of 20,000, of which about 3.5 percent have lost their jobs.
LinkedIn generates revenue mainly from ad sales and subscriptions to recruiting and sales professionals that use the network platform for prospect hiring.
In a letter to employees, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said the decision to trim down jobs in sales, operations, and support teams was for streamlining the company’s operations and enabling quicker decision-making.
“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.
Roslansky also said this move would result in creating 250 new jobs. A LinkedIn spokesperson said the employees affected by the streamlining move would be eligible to apply for those roles.
Linkedin, in addition, announced its China-focused job application to shut down. However, the company would continue to have a presence in China to assist companies operating there to hire and train employees outside the country.
“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.
Tech Companies & Layoffs:
Over 2,70,000 tech jobs worldwide have disappeared in the last six months, with big names like Amazon, Facebook, and Google parent company Alphabet accounting for a big chunk, citing laying off as a cost-cutting measure.
Microsoft, which acquired LinkedIn for $26 billion in 2016, also announced the slashing of 10,000 jobs lately, mainly from the supply chain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things profiles. Meta has reduced the headcount by 21,000 since late last year, whereas Google laid off 12,000 employees in January 2023.
Amazon has fired about 27,000 employees in two rounds.