LinkedIn is laying off employees across multiple divisions and reducing spending on office space, marketing, and events as its parent company, Microsoft, accelerates a broader restructuring tied to artificial intelligence investments and operational efficiency.
According to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider ,LinkedIn CEO Daniel Shapero told employees the company would “scale back investments” in several areas while redirecting resources toward infrastructure and high-impact priorities
READ: Walmart lays off 1,000 workers while simplifying operating structure (May 13, 2026)
The cuts reportedly affect teams across LinkedIn’s Global Business Organization, marketing, engineering, and product divisions. Reuters reported the company plans to reduce roughly 5% of its workforce, or approximately 875 employees, based on LinkedIn’s estimated global headcount of 17,500 workers.
The company is also closing its office in Graz, Austria, according to the memo.“We are scaling back investments in some areas including marketing campaigns, vendor spend, customer events and underutilized office space,” Shapero wrote in the memo, according to reports.
The restructuring comes despite continued revenue growth at LinkedIn. Microsoft recently reported that LinkedIn revenue rose 12% year-over-year during the latest quarter, highlighting how technology firms continue cutting costs even while maintaining business expansion.
Industry analysts say the layoffs reflect a wider shift underway across Silicon Valley, where companies are reallocating spending toward AI infrastructure, cloud computing capacity, and automation tools while reducing headcount in traditional operational roles.
Microsoft itself has recently offered voluntary buyouts to some long-serving employees as the company increases spending on AI data centers and enterprise AI products.
READ: IBM layoff spark offshoring claims after Oracle cuts in US, ‘not just H-1B, OPT’ (April 3, 2026)
The layoffs place LinkedIn among a growing list of technology firms announcing workforce reductions in 2026, including Cloudflare, Meta, GitLab, and several software companies restructuring around AI-driven productivity models.
While LinkedIn did not explicitly cite artificial intelligence as the direct reason for the layoffs, analysts note the broader industry trend increasingly ties cost-cutting measures to automation and changing software development workflows.
“This restructuring aims to redirect resources toward high-impact areas,” the memo said, according to Business Insider. The latest cuts also underscore growing tension inside the technology sector as companies continue reporting healthy revenues while simultaneously reducing staff and consolidating operations.
Tech industry tracker Layoffs.fyi estimates more than 100,000 technology workers have lost jobs globally so far in 2026, approaching the total recorded during all of 2025.The changes mark one of the first major restructuring moves under Shapero, who became LinkedIn’s CEO earlier this year following leadership transitions inside the Microsoft-owned platform.

