Microsoft-owned LinkedIn lays off 668 employees in second cut this year

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has laid off 668 employees from engineering, product, talent, and finance teams in the second round of layoffs this year. In a note published on Monday, the professional social media platform said that talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing business. "The changes we shared with our team today will result in a reduction of approximately 668 roles across our engineering, product, talent, and finance teams."

LinkedIn's move of slashing jobs comes against the backdrop of a slowdown in revenue. "While we are adapting our organizational structures and streamlining our decision making, we are continuing to invest in strategic priorities for our future and to ensure we continue to deliver value for our members and customers," LinkedIn said in a blog on Monday.

In the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2023 year, LinkedIn's revenue increased 5 per cent year-on-year, compared to 10 per cent in the previous quarter. The platform makes money through ad sales and by charging for subscriptions to recruiting and sales professionals who use the network to find suitable job candidates.

The tech sector has laid off 141,516 employees in the first half of the year compared with about 6,000 a year ago, according to employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Microsoft has cited a slowdown in hiring along with a decline in advertising spending as headwinds for LinkedIn, Reuters said. 

In May this year, LinkedIn cut 716 jobs across sales, operations, and support teams to streamline its operations and remove layers to help make quicker decisions.

Also read: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calls Bing worse than Google, says he will do anything to make it better

(With inputs from Reuters)