LinkedIn confirms it will cut 668 jobs, bringing the total to nearly 1,400 this year.

LinkedIn has announced another round of layoffs, affecting 668 employees. The majority of these layoffs, approximately 563, will impact the R&D department, including teams in engineering, product, talent, and finance. This announcement comes five months after LinkedIn reported 716 job cuts and decided to phase out its app in China. The cumulative layoffs at Microsoft-owned LinkedIn now total 1,384 for the year. In 2023, the technology sector has seen over 242,000 layoffs, per the employment tracker Layoffs.fyi.

The company stated, “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.” The specifics of these strategic priorities were not detailed, but it’s speculated that a shift toward hiring more AI talent could be a part of the strategy.

After its acquisition by Microsoft in 2016 for over $26 billion, LinkedIn’s financial and operational transparency has decreased. However, Microsoft’s July 2023 full-fiscal-year earnings report highlighted that LinkedIn had more than 950 million members and over $15 billion in revenues. The Talent Solutions segment was the most significant contributor, bringing in over $7 billion.

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