LinkedIn is cutting roughly 5% of its workforce, eliminating about 875 positions across engineering, product, marketing, and its Global Business Organization, even as revenue grew 12% in the latest quarter to top $5 billion for the first time.
CEO Daniel Shapero disclosed the cuts in an internal memo cited by Bloomberg, telling employees the Microsoft-owned platform needs to operate more profitably and reorganize around faster-growing areas. Affected staff were notified May 13. The layoffs are not about AI replacing workers, who spoke to Reuters. Instead, LinkedIn described the move as a restructuring to simplify operations and shift resources toward long-term strategic priorities. The company is also reviewing spending on vendor contracts, office facilities, customer events, and marketing programs.
LinkedIn's financial performance makes the cuts stand out. The platform reported $5 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in January, and Microsoft's fiscal Q3 2026 earnings showed LinkedIn revenue climbing 12% year-over-year, its fastest growth rate in nearly four quarters. The company now counts over 1.3 billion members globally. Its AI-powered hiring products alone recently crossed a $450 million annual revenue run rate.
Shapero took the helm at LinkedIn in late April after serving as chief operating officer since 2021. He succeeded Ryan Roslansky, who was elevated to an executive vice president role overseeing both LinkedIn and Microsoft Office. The cuts add to a brutal stretch for tech workers. More than 100,000 technology employees have lost their jobs globally so far in 2026, according to industry trackers.
Cloudflare announced a roughly 20% staff reduction last week. Meta is expected to begin companywide layoffs on May 20, cutting approximately 8,000 employees.
Microsoft has taken a different approach at the parent level. The company opened a voluntary retirement program in April, the first in its 51-year history, targeting roughly 8,750 US employees under a "Rule of 70" formula where age plus years of service must total at least 70. That program closed May 7 with a 30-day decision window. LinkedIn's cuts layer on top of those moves.
This marks the second major round of layoffs at LinkedIn in three years. The company cut around 716 jobs in 2023 as global hiring activity slowed after the post-pandemic recruitment boom.
