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LinkedIn's marketing organization is turning to AI amid staff reductions, reveals an internal document.
The team will cut back on advertising expenditures, per CMO Jessica Jensen's message.
LinkedIn describes these moves as key steps to secure long-term growth through structural adjustments.

LinkedIn's marketing group faced cuts during the company's Wednesday layoffs.

Chief marketing and strategy officer Jessica Jensen distributed an email announcing role eliminations throughout the team to lower expenses.

The message stated, "Growth is more competitive, infrastructure costs continue to rise and AI is reshaping how work gets done." It continued, "So we are at a point where our work is important and deeply valued, and we need to reduce costs in Marketing to ensure LinkedIn is positioned for the future we're building." Business Insider reviewed the email.

Precise figures for marketing positions eliminated remain undisclosed. A company representative offered no details, instead noting that LinkedIn is pursuing "organizational changes" to optimize for upcoming achievements.

The email further indicated a pullback in paid media allocations. Though specifics were absent, this generally covers expenditures on platforms like Google Ads for visibility.

The team intends to adopt various "AI tools and workflows" to boost productivity.

Product units at LinkedIn have similarly experienced operational shifts from the layoffs.

This aligns LinkedIn with numerous tech firms mandating AI adoption alongside workforce reductions. Cisco revealed an AI-focused reorganization Wednesday, impacting roughly 4,000 positions. Firms including Coinbase and Block have likewise referenced AI-enhanced output to justify earlier cuts.

Beyond internal use, LinkedIn is advancing AI initiatives, such as an "AI labor marketplace" enabling earnings from training chatbots in fields from coding to healthcare and finance, as previously covered by Business Insider.

Here is the complete text of Jensen's Wednesday memo:

Team, I want to start by saying that this team is doing extraordinary work. You're pushing our brand into new creative territory, delivering results that drive business growth, and being recognized for that in the industry - and it's making a real impact. Thank you. At the same time, we're operating in a moment that requires more focus and intentionality. Growth is more competitive, infrastructure costs continue to rise and AI is reshaping how work gets done. So we are at a point where our work is important and deeply valued, and we need to reduce costs in Marketing to ensure LinkedIn is positioned for the future we're building.
With this in mind, we're making some organizational changes, including reducing roles across our team. If your role is part of the reductions, or proposed reductions in EMEA and APAC, you will receive a calendar invite in the next hour titled 'Attendance Required: Marketing Organizational Updates.' If you do not receive this exact invite your role is not part of the reductions or proposed reductions.
To give you more context, our organizational changes are across three areas:
First, sharpening our financial focus. In addition to the difficult role reductions we're announcing today, we're also reducing our paid media and program spend, while continuing to invest where we see the highest ROI. This is about being more intentional with our resources, and creating space to fund the work that moves the business the most.
Second, focusing our investments on where we can grow and drive high ROI in FY27. That includes accelerating LMS growth, advancing our agentic hiring solutions, and building on strong momentum with Premium and Small Business offerings. We'll prioritize the consumer experiences that most directly drive engagement and revenue, concentrate our marketing investments in the US and UK, and maintain our market leadership in LSS as we continue to strengthen the product.
Third, setting teams up for success. We're continuing to bring teams together that do similar work in our Creative CoE, our Scaled Solutions org, and Small Business Marketing. We'll also embrace new AI-enabled tools and workflows that allow our human creativity and judgment to go further, faster.
To those leaving LinkedIn, thank you for the care, creativity and commitment you brought to our culture and brand. You've made a lasting impact, and we're deeply grateful. For those staying, please join me in supporting our departing colleagues as they navigate what's next. We'll come together tomorrow for an all Marketing team meeting where I'll provide more clarity and you'll have a chance to ask questions. You can learn more about the changes within each team on the Marketing Hub which will include links to updates that GBO, Product, and Engineering are sharing today as well. Your leaders will provide more context on what's happening on your team in meetings later this week.
While I know that this level of change can bring a sense of uncertainty, it can also clarify our purpose. The world needs LinkedIn now more than ever, and while these are hard choices to make, they focus our work for our short and long-term impact. Please take the time you need to process this news and give one another space at this moment. Thank you for everything you do for LinkedIn and for one another.
Jessica

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