LinkedIn cuts 716 jobs and shuts Chinese app, downsizing marketing functions in China

LinkedIn will lay off 716 employees worldwide and discontinue its China jobs app as part of its recent workforce reduction. Jobs in product, engineering, corporate, sales and marketing in China would go.

The company's CEO Ryan Rolansky said in a letter to his employees, that 716 LinkedIn staff will be made redundant as the company saw shifts in customer behaviour and slower revenue growth. 

“As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our global business organisation (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees,"said Rolansky.

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In order to make its business more agile, LinkedIn will be refocusing its global business organisation for the next phase of growth and reorganising how works get done. This involves bringing teams together in a more integrated model to better support customers. To accelerate its ease of doing business work, its product and engineering teams will take the lead for its 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. 

"With the market and customer demand fluctuating more, and to serve emerging and growth markets more effectively, we are expanding the use of vendors. We are also removing layers, reducing management roles and broadening responsibilities to make decisions more quickly," the statement read. 

However, the company will also create over 250 new roles in specific segments of its operations, new business and account management teams from 15 May, to invest in opportunities for profitable growth.

Meanwhile, the company’s China-based jobs app, InCareer, would phase out from 9 August, with the company to focus on assisting companies operating in China to hire, market and train abroad, Roslansky said. This involves the discontinuation of product and engineering teams in China and the downsizing of corporate, sales, and marketing functions.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to LinkedIn for more information. 

Back in October 2021, Microsoft shut down its main social network in China. LinkedIn senior vice-president Mohak Shroff said in his blog that the company was facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.

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