Following Meta and Cloudflare, LinkedIn Also Announces Layoffs
After Meta and Cloudflare, LinkedIn is now joining the wave of major efficiency measures in the global technology industry in 2026. After a slowdown in the past two years, technology companies are once again implementing widespread layoffs amid a major focus on the development of artificial intelligence (AI).
Most recently, LinkedIn is reported to be cutting around 5% of its workforce as part of an organisational restructuring.
A Reuters report states that the Microsoft-owned company will begin informing employees about the layoffs on Wednesday local time. Sources familiar with the plan say the workforce reduction is being carried out to align the organisational structure with faster-growing business areas.
“LinkedIn currently has more than 17,500 full-time employees worldwide. However, it is not yet known which divisions will be affected by the cuts,” the report said, as quoted by Trading View, Friday, May 15, 2026.
The layoffs are taking place amid positive growth in LinkedIn’s business. According to Microsoft’s financial documents, LinkedIn’s revenue grew 12% in the last quarter compared to the same period last year.
This growth is even said to have accelerated throughout 2026. However, LinkedIn is not the only technology company implementing efficiency measures this year. The global technology industry is re-entering a new wave of layoffs after a slowdown in 2024 and 2025.
The digital payments company Block, founded by Jack Dorsey, previously announced plans to cut almost half of its workforce. In addition, Cloudflare revealed a reduction of around 20% of its staff last week.
Meanwhile, Meta Platforms is also reportedly preparing additional layoffs in the near future. Although AI developments are often associated with job cuts, one of Reuters’ sources said that the layoffs at LinkedIn are not directly caused by AI replacing human jobs.
However, AI developments continue to influence the direction of global technology companies’ businesses. Many companies are now reorganising their operations to focus on AI development and work efficiency.
The use of generative AI is also becoming increasingly widespread in various fields of work, including software development. Many engineers are now using AI to help create or compile programming code.