Microsoft-owned LinkedIn will cut about 5% of its workforce, or approximately 875 jobs, as the professional social network reorganizes its teams to focus on areas of business growth. The layoffs, announced to employees in an internal memo on Wednesday, come despite the company reporting a 12% year-over-year revenue increase in its most recent quarter.
"For us to meet this moment, we must ready ourselves to deliver a step change in impact across our products, businesses, and platforms, while continuing to operate more profitably," CEO Daniel Shapero said in the memo viewed by Business Insider. "This requires hard prioritization and tradeoffs."
The workforce reduction impacts employees in the Global Business Organization, as well as marketing, engineering, and product teams. In addition to the layoffs, LinkedIn is scaling back investments in marketing campaigns, vendor spending, and customer events, and will close its office in Graz, Austria. The company, with a global headcount of over 17,500, confirmed the rationale was not related to artificial intelligence replacing jobs.
The restructuring at LinkedIn reflects a broader trend of cost-cutting at its parent company, Microsoft, which has been trimming its workforce across various divisions. While LinkedIn's revenue growth accelerated in 2026, the layoffs suggest a proactive move to streamline operations and reallocate resources to higher-growth priorities, a strategy investors will watch closely as Microsoft navigates a shifting economic environment and invests heavily in AI infrastructure.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
