LinkedIn joins other big tech companies in laying off workers, cutting over 700 jobs.

LinkedIn, the world’s biggest social media platform for professionals, said it was cutting over 700 jobs and shutting down applications in China for a variety of reasons. This comes at a time when layoffs are happening all over the tech industry.

In a letter to employees on Monday, CEO Ryan Roslansky said, “The decision was made because of changes in customer behaviour and slower revenue growth.”

He said, “As we lead LinkedIn through this rapidly changing environment, we are making changes to our Global Business Organisation and our China strategy that will lead to 716 employees losing their jobs.”

The platform has 20,000 employees and saw its revenue go up every quarter last year. However, it has also been affected by the fact that the world economy is getting worse.

Some of the other big tech companies had already said they were going to cut jobs this year. Meta, for example, said in March that it was going to lay off 10,000 more people after cutting a lot of jobs last year.

In this picture, you can see the name of the company Meta on a tablet. — AFP/File
In this picture, you can see the name of the company Meta on a tablet. — AFP/File
Layoffs.fyi, which keeps track of layoffs, said, “More than 270,000 tech jobs have been cut around the world in the last six months.”

LinkedIn makes money by selling ads and charging employers and professionals for subscriptions.

Tech giants have led to a lot of cuts in recent years. Amazon laid off 27,000 people, making it the biggest in its history. Alphabet has also put 12,000 people out of work.

This picture was taken in Amagasaki, Hyogo county. It shows the Amazon logo, which is a big name in online shopping. — AFP/File
This picture was taken in Amagasaki, Hyogo county. It shows the Amazon logo, which is a big name in online shopping. — AFP/File
Layoffs.fyi also said, “Before LinkedIn’s announcement, 5,000 technology jobs had already been cut in May alone.”

Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for about $26 billion. In recent months, the company laid off about 10,000 people and took a $1.2 billion charge because of this.

“As we plan for [the fiscal year of 2024], we expect the macro environment to stay tough,” said the CEO of LinkedIn. We’ll keep an eye on our costs while we put money into key growth areas.

As part of the change, LinkedIn’s app will no longer work in China after August 9.

“Despite our early success, InCareer had to deal with tough competition and a tough economy, which led us to the decision to end the service,” the company told its users.

The platform, which is based in California, said, “It will keep some presence in China, including helping companies that do business there hire and train employees outside of China.”

LinkedIn is the only social media site from the West that works in China. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube haven’t been allowed to work there for more than ten years. In 2010, Google stopped doing business in China.