LinkedIn Cuts 5% of Staff, Closes Graz Office as Microsoft Ramps Up $190 Billion AI Spend
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · May 13
LinkedIn Cuts 5% of Staff, Closes Graz Office as Microsoft Ramps Up $190 Billion AI Spend
6 articles · Updated · Business Insider · May 13
LinkedIn told employees Wednesday it is cutting roles across its Global Business Organization, marketing, engineering and product teams, with notifications sent after CEO Daniel Shapero’s 7 a.m. Pacific memo.
About 5% of LinkedIn’s roughly 17,500 employees—more than 875 people, according to earlier reporting—are being cut as the company pushes for higher profitability and shifts resources toward higher-priority infrastructure.
The cost-cutting also includes scaling back marketing campaigns, vendor spending, customer events and underused office space, plus shutting LinkedIn’s office in Graz, Austria.
Asia-Pacific employees were told some notifications would come Thursday, extending the process beyond the initial U.S. and EMEA notices.
The move fits broader belt-tightening at parent Microsoft, which is funding about $190 billion in capital expenditures this year for AI infrastructure and last month offered buyouts worth up to 39 weeks of base pay.
With record revenue, are LinkedIn's layoffs truly for its success or to fund Microsoft's massive AI spending spree?
As tech giants lay off thousands, what specific skills actually guarantee a job in the new AI-dominated workforce?
Is 'AI-washing' the new corporate excuse for layoffs, or is a genuine AI-driven job transformation finally here?