LinkedIn announced it will lay off 960 employees, roughly 6% of its global workforce, as the coronavirus pandemic has slowed hiring across the country and demand for the Sunnyvale company’s recruitment services has dimmed.
CEO Ryan Roslansky announced the layoffs in a blog post, saying the cuts would affect the company’s Global Sales and Talent Acquisition departments and were the only layoffs planned at the moment.
“LinkedIn is not immune to the effects of the global pandemic,” Roslansky wrote. “Our Talent Solutions business continues to be impacted as fewer companies, including ours, need to hire at the same volume they did previously.”
Roslansky said the company, which Microsoft bought in 2016 for $26 billion, will focus more on online sales.
“This online channel approach will allow us to better serve the millions of small businesses that will need LinkedIn through this pandemic and beyond — and aligns with how we plan to focus our field sales efforts on our higher value relationships,” he wrote.
The cuts are the latest to hit large Bay Area tech companies that once seemed invincible as the prolonged economic effects of the pandemic drag the economy into lower gear.
The first rounds of large tech layoffs were at companies directly involved in sectors like travel that the pandemic and shelter-in-place hit first.
In May, ride-hailing company Uber laid off 3,700 employees in recruiting and customer support across the globe, roughly 14% of its workforce. Uber rival Lyft cut 982 positions around the same time, implementing furloughs and pay cuts for hundreds of other employees.
Vacation-rental site Airbnb parted ways with a quarter of its workforce in May as lockdown orders halted travel and the company saw revenues plummet.
Hirings and layoffs have been rampant in tech and elsewhere, but also fluid as the pandemic ebbs and surges.
San Francisco restaurant reviews site Yelp laid off more than 1,000 employees in April but recently said it plans to bring back almost all of those workers, banking on an economic recovery. The company also plans to cut more than 60 employees, however, as its offices remain shuttered, according to news reports and a layoff tracking site.
LinkedIn has been one of Microsoft’s fastest growing business units, but the parent company noted in its April earnings report that it had begun to see a slowdown in advertising spending on the service.
Roslansky, a long-serving LinkedIn executive who took over as CEO last month, wrote to employees, telling them the company would provide severance pay and cover employee health insurance for one year, as well as provide outplacement career services.
The company said it will allow employees to keep company smartphones and laptops and will also assist with any immigration issues that arise for workers on company-sponsored visas.
“I’m confident we’ll emerge more resilient and stronger than ever,” Roslansky wrote.
Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice
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More tech layoffs: Sunnyvale's LinkedIn to cut 960, 6% of its workforce - San Francisco Chronicle
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