LinkedIn, while improving performance, is also implementing a 5% layoff... aimed at a business restructuring to focus on growth areas.

Microsoft ($MSFT) subsidiary LinkedIn is reportedly initiating layoffs, cutting approximately 5% of its staff. Although performance is improving, this move is more about organizational restructuring to focus resources on core growth areas, which has once again drawn attention to the overall employment strategies of large tech companies.

According to Reuters on the 14th, LinkedIn, citing an anonymous insider familiar with the matter, may cut about 875 employees out of roughly 17,500 worldwide. It is explained that this measure is part of team restructuring and business priority adjustments, aiming to concentrate manpower on the company’s “growth areas in core businesses.”

The specific departments affected and the timeline have not been disclosed. However, sources say the layoffs are unrelated to direct replacements caused by artificial intelligence (AI) or automation. A LinkedIn spokesperson also told multiple media outlets, “As part of routine business planning, we have implemented organizational changes to position ourselves more favorably in the future.”

Structural adjustments amid performance improvements

It is worth noting LinkedIn’s performance trend. According to Microsoft’s securities report, LinkedIn, which provides recruiting solutions and paid subscription services, saw a 12% year-over-year revenue increase in the most recent quarter. Its growth momentum has further accelerated after 2026. While poor performance is often seen as a direct reason for large-scale layoffs, LinkedIn’s case shows that organizational efficiency improvements may continue even when profitability is improving.

This aligns with Microsoft’s overall cost-control tone. Microsoft has been steadily reducing staff across multiple business units recently. Last year, reports indicated plans to cut about 9,000 employees, roughly 4% of the total workforce. Analysts believe that understanding LinkedIn’s layoffs requires considering this broader trend.

Layoffs spreading across large tech companies

Expanding the view to the entire large tech industry, personnel reductions have become a common operational practice. Reports indicate that major tech firms have laid off over 100k employees. Meta ($META) once cut about 20% of its global workforce, and the impact is still ongoing; Google and Amazon ($AMZN) have also undergone large-scale restructuring.

Many market opinions suggest that attributing such layoffs simply to “AI replacing humans” is an exaggeration. Forbes recently reported that many layoffs are actually related to broader financial factors, such as post-pandemic organizational restructuring, cost pressures, and shareholder profit demands. AI may sometimes be used as an easily explainable reason to the public.

Ultimately, LinkedIn’s layoffs seem more like a reinforcement of “selection and focus” in growing businesses to improve “operational efficiency,” rather than an emergency response to poor performance. However, given that personnel reductions across large tech companies continue, employment recovery in the tech industry is likely to progress slowly in the short term.

TP AI Notice This article is summarized based on the language model of TokenPost.ai. The main content may have omissions or inaccuracies.