LinkedIn, the professional networking platform owned by Microsoft, has laid off 281 employees across various locations in California. The job cuts, confirmed by a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with state officials, affect a wide range of roles including software engineers, machine learning experts, product managers, and designers.
The layoffs are spread across multiple locations: 159 employees in Mountain View, 60 in San Francisco, 23 in Sunnyvale, 11 in Carpinteria, and 28 remote workers based in California. Notably, 71 positions eliminated in Mountain View were from software engineering roles, including staff and senior-level engineers. Other technical roles impacted include DevOps engineers, machine learning specialists, and infrastructure experts, indicating a significant reduction in the platform’s technical core.
Professionals in strategic and creative functions were also affected, including deal desk strategists, product managers, and UX designers. While LinkedIn has not issued an official statement, industry observers suggest that Microsoft’s strategic shift towards artificial intelligence may be a driving factor behind the layoffs.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently revealed that AI now generates up to 30% of the code in several internal projects, highlighting the growing role of automation in core development workflows. These layoffs appear to be part of Microsoft’s broader workforce reduction, estimated to affect 6,000 employees globally. Earlier this month, 122 Microsoft employees in the Bay Area were laid off in a separate round of cuts.
The lack of public comment from LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky contrasts with the company’s 2023 layoff of 716 employees, when Roslansky directly addressed the decision in an employee email. This silence has led to speculation among employees and observers about the scale and direction of future cuts.
With over 18,400 full-time employees worldwide, LinkedIn has been considered a stable platform within the Microsoft ecosystem. However, this latest layoff announcement may signal a strategic shift as companies like Microsoft re-evaluate their workforce needs amid increasing automation capabilities.
The timing of the layoffs aligns with a broader industry trend of streamlining operations amid economic challenges and advancing AI technologies. While AI offers increased productivity, it also raises questions about the future of human roles in tech-driven companies, particularly in areas once considered secure, such as engineering.
Neither LinkedIn nor Microsoft has responded to media inquiries about severance details, potential reabsorption of affected employees within the company, or plans for further cuts.
