LinkedIn planning to lay off 5% of staff in latest tech sector cuts, source says

SAN FRANCISCO – LinkedIn planned to inform staff of layoffs on May 13, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a widening of technology sector cuts in 2026.

The Microsoft-owned social network plans to cut about 5 per cent of its headcount as it reorganises teams and focuses personnel on areas where its business is growing, said one of the people.

LinkedIn employs more than 17,500 full-time workers globally, its website says.

The cuts come as revenue at LinkedIn, which sells recruiting tools and subscriptions, rose 12 per cent in the just-ended quarter from a year prior, in an acceleration of growth in 2026, according to Microsoft’s securities filings.

The layoff rationale was not for artificial intelligence to replace jobs at LinkedIn, one of the people told Reuters. The spectre of AI-fuelled disruption has nonetheless hung over software incumbents and workers generally.

Technology companies are increasingly reshaping their operations around AI. Mr Jack Dorsey’s Block in February announced it planned to eliminate nearly half its workforce, while Cloudflare last week unveiled a roughly 20 per cent cut.

Meta Platforms was targeting a May 20 layoff, Reuters earlier reported.

While some AI leaders have warned of job displacement, other industry executives say technology is altering work rather than erasing it. Many Silicon Valley software developers now use AI to generate code for them, for instance.

Layoffs.fyi, a layoff tracker for tech workers, has tallied cuts at more than 103,000 so far in 2026. That is approaching the more than 124,000 reductions that it counted for the whole of 2025, according to the site. REUTERS