Cuts continue: LinkedIn dismisses hundreds

Even as it grows, LinkedIn is ditching more than 600 staff

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn is cutting "approximately" 668 employees from various teams, affecting about 3% of the 20,000 total staff.

The latest cuts will hit the engineering and product teams in addition to talent and finance.

Technologist roles are normally the last to be affected, as they directly affect the service a company can offer to its customers.

LinkedIn may have targeted the engineering and product teams because it has already cut other roles. The site ditched more than 700 positions in May, mainly in the sales, operations and support departments.

While that move was about "re-organi[sing] for greater agility and growth," this latest round focuses on "adapting our organisational structures" and "streamlining our decision making," according to a news post this week.

The corporate buzzwords are unlikely to be much salve to the affected employees.

LinkedIn retreated from the Chinese market at the same time as it announced the dismissals in Spring.

Despite that, it is still growing - albeit more slowly than this time last year.

LinkedIn primarily makes money through ad sales and premium subscriptions, often taken by recruitment and sales staff.

In its most recent quarter (fiscal Q4 2023), LinkedIn's revenue was up 5% year-on-year, compared to 10% this time in Q4 2022 - passing $15 billion for the first time.

Microsoft, which owns the site, blamed a slowdown in hiring and falling advertising spend.