LinkedIn fires over 700 employees, phases out China-focused app
The market and customer demand has become more volatile, says CEO Ryan Rolansky
LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social networking service, has revealed plans to slash 716 jobs spanning multiple departments and will also discontinue its local job app in China.
In a memo addressed to employees, Ryan Roslansky, the CEO of LinkedIn, stated that the company intends to streamline its processes by removing certain levels within the sales, operations and support departments, which will result in a more efficient decision-making process.
"Over the years we've had to make hard decisions to ensure we were setting the company up to deliver on our vision, and I'm sharing one of those decisions today. As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees," Roslansky said.
He explained that the market and customer demand has become more volatile, and in order to meet the needs of developing and expanding markets, the company plans to increase its reliance on vendors.
As per Roslansky's statement, LinkedIn is undertaking reorganisation aimed at enhancing its agility and growth.
The company's primary focus is centred around three key themes: reorganising work processes, fostering greater agility, and aligning teams to facilitate growth.
The reorganisation effort will entail consolidating teams into a more integrated model, with the goal of providing enhanced support to customers.
"Also, to accelerate our ease of doing business work, our Product & Engineering teams will take the lead for our technology roadmap, and the Business Productivity team will be sunsetted, with some components being integrated into other parts of MCS or related teams within GTMOps," Roslansky said.
Additionally, to capitalise on opportunities for profitable expansion and gain market share during the current cycle, LinkedIn wants to ensure that it has the right roles to fulfil the necessary work.
"This involves both reducing roles, and it also includes opening up more than 250 new roles in specific segments of our operations, new business and account management teams starting on May 15," Roslansky stated.
He said staff impacted by the reduction in sales, operations and support teams would have the opportunity to seek alternative employment opportunities within the company.
Despite experiencing quarterly revenue growth over the past year, LinkedIn, which has a workforce of 20,000 employees, has joined other major technology companies, including its parent company Microsoft, in downsizing its staff in response to a bleak economic outlook.
LinkedIn generates revenue through advertising sales and subscription fees charged to recruiting and sales professionals who use the platform to find prospects.
LinkedIn has also announced that it intends to discontinue its job search app in China, known as InCareers, by 9th August 2023.
The company cites a challenging environment as the reason behind this decision.
As of 2021, LinkedIn has largely withdrawn from China, and its InCareers app was solely focused on the Chinese market.
"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 noted.
It stated that it will maintain its presence in China to assist businesses operating in the region in recruiting and training talent outside of the country.