Microsoft-owned LinkedIn to layoff 5% of staff

Tech companies are laying off employees at an unprecedented rate, with the widespread adoption of AI across organizations cited as a major driver of workforce reductions. Microsoft-owned LinkedIn is the latest company to cut a portion of its staff.

According to Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, LinkedIn plans to lay off nearly 5% of its workforce as part of a broader reorganization aimed at prioritizing key areas of its business. It remains unclear which teams and units will be affected, and the company hasn’t yet made that clear. The social network currently employs around 17,500 full-time employees worldwide.

In a statement to Neowin, a LinkedIn spokesperson said, "As part of our regular business planning, we’ve implemented organizational changes to best position ourselves for future success."

Microsoft’s latest earnings report shows that LinkedIn’s revenue increased by 12% year over year. Reuters reports that the recent layoffs at LinkedIn are not related to AI adoption, but rather part of an effort to focus resources on areas where the company’s business is growing.

Like many other platforms, LinkedIn has embraced the AI trend by introducing a range of AI-powered tools designed to help users improve their profiles and networking capabilities. Meanwhile, Microsoft is also using LinkedIn user data to help train its AI models.

Recent data from layoffs.fyi shows that tech companies have laid off 103,571 employees so far in 2026, and that figure is expected to rise as AI adoption accelerates across organizations.

Last month, Microsoft announced that around 7% of its US-based workforce could be eligible for voluntary buyouts. The offer applied to employees at the senior director level and below whose combined age and years of service totaled 70 or more. The software giant has also carried out multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years, affecting tens of thousands of employees.