Social media company, LinkedIn is laying off 668 people across its engineering, product, talent and finance teams.
In a statement dated Monday, October 16, LinkedIn noted that it was making changes to its organizational structure and streamlining its decision-making.
“Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” the company stated.
According to sources close to the company, the new direction is aimed at directing resources towards artificial intelligence.
Recently, LinkedIn announced an AI-assisted candidate discovery for recruiters using the site.
LinkedIn already cut 716 positions in May and shut down its jobs app in mainland China. That decision was made amid shifts in customer behavior and slower revenue growth, CEO Ryan Roslansky said in a letter to employees.
In the wake of mass layoffs across the tech sector at the end of last year, LinkedIn enjoyed an uptick in users and “record engagement” among its 875 million members at the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts in last October’s earnings call.
The company continues to grow financially. LinkedIn also announced in its most recent earnings report that it surpassed $15 billion in revenue for the first time during this fiscal year, and that its membership growth “accelerated” for the eighth quarter in a row.
The company which was bought by Microsoft is among firms struggling to retain workers amid change in demands.
Many multinationals have been forced to layoff hundreds due to the changing business dynamics and the general economic downtime.
The level of unemployment has left different governments in limbo on how to address the situation.
