LinkedIn cuts over 700 jobs, phases out China app as demand wavers

LinkedIn, the social media network owned by Microsoft Corp that focuses on business professionals, said on Monday (May 8) it would cut 716 jobs as demand wavers, while also shutting down its China-focused job application.

LinkedIn, which has 20,000 employees, has grown revenue each quarter during the last year, but 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, according to Layoffs.fyi, which has been tracking the fallout.

LinkedIn makes money through ad sales and also by 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 operations 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 take on new and existing work.

Roslansky also said in the letter that the changes would result in creating 250 new jobs. The spokesperson said that employees affected by the cuts would be eligible to apply for those roles.

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LinkedIn also said it was eliminating the slimmed down jobs app that 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.

In the tech sector, large companies have accounted for the bulk of recent layoffs, 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 in eliminated in May alone, according to Layoffs.fyi.

Microsoft, which bought LinkedIn for around US$26 billion (S$34 billion) in 2016, has announced some 10,000 job cuts in recent months and took a US$1.2 billion charge related to the layoffs.

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