LinkedIn, the social network for finding jobs, announces more than 700 layoffs

LinkedIn, the social network for finding jobs, announced more than 700 layoffs. The platform, owned by Microsoft, reported that 716 people would lose their jobs as a result of the economic crisis that is affecting the entire tech sector. Layoffs.fyi reported that this has caused more than 270,000 people to lose their jobs in the last six months.

However, in the case of LinkedIn, the layoffs are not a consequence of the tech bubble. The company, which has 20,000 employees, has seen revenues increase every quarter over the last year. However, this was not enough to curb fears of industry instability, and these layoffs are a direct consequence of that.

CEO Ryan Roslansky said in a letter sent to employees that the company will cut jobs in the operations, sales and support departments. The reason behind this decision is to simplify LinkedIn's operations and cut out the middlemen to help make decisions faster. "With the market and customer demand fluctuating more, and to serve emerging and growth markets more effectively, we are expanding the use of vendors," he said.

In the letter, the CEO stated that this decision would ultimately lead to the creation of 250 new jobs. Employees who are now losing their jobs could be eligible for these positions in the future.

LinkedIn closes InCareer

Along with the layoffs, the company announced that it will "gradually" close InCareer as of Aug. 9. The app, based in China, is one of the few that maintained the social network’s presence in China since 2021. At that time, Reuters recalls, Microsoft decided to withdraw LinkedIn's business in the Chinese market.

Despite many rumors that the closure was due to the company not wanting to keep any of its business there, LinkedIn assured that this was not the case. As the company stressed in its memo, it was due to the "fierce competition" that jeopardized the app's profits: