LinkedIn lays off 10 percent of staff

Business networking site LinkedIn is joining the long list of companies that have announced cuts in the last few weeks — it has laid off 36 employees, or about 10 percent of its total staff.

Kay Luo, the Mountain View, Calif. company’s senior director of communications, told Reuters that the cuts are a preemptive measure to make sure LinkedIn remains cash-flow positive. And the decision comes from company executives, not investors, she said. Still, it’s worth noting LinkedIn’s backers include Sequoia Capital, the venture firm that gave the now famous RIP Good Times presentation advising its startups to tighten their belts. Shortly afterwards, several Sequoia startups including Jive Software and imeem announced cuts.

LinkedIn is hardly the first startup to say its layoffs are preemptive, but it’s pretty safe to say the company isn’t running out of cash — last month, it announced $22.7 million in new funding, bringing its total backing to $100 million.

A company spokesperson confirmed the cuts to me via email. He also confirmed that some of the laid off staffers will be assigned to new positions, as TechCrunch reported.

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