Linktree sacks 17% of employees in latest round of tech layoffs

Australian runaway success story Linktree has fired 17% of its staff, with the social media startup’s founder confirming the latest casualties in a worldwide tech bloodbath.

“Today I shared the difficult news with our team that Linktree is reducing our global workforce by 17 per cent in order to emerge stronger from the economic downturn,” chief executive Alex Zaccaria said in a LinkedIn post.

With a reported 300-strong workforce, the mass layoff amounts to about 50 staff members.

“Our people have built Linktree into what it is today: trusted by millions of people around the world. I‘m heartbroken to say goodbye to some incredible teammates today, and want to do all I can to support them,” Zaccaria continued.

“On Friday, we will post a public, opt-in Airtable for those of our team impacted and ask you to please consider this group of incredibly talented and passionate people for roles you have open. I can assure you they will make huge contributions wherever they land. If you’d like to speak to me personally about any individual, my DM’s are open.

“My focus and priority this week is on the team we say goodbye to alongside those that remain as we continue to move Linktree forward together.

“Friday will be a company-wide mental health day at Linktree. For a company like ours, so focused on culture and camaraderie, this will be difficult news. I don’t expect anyone to be their normal selves. We will also be allocating you an additional mental health day that you can take at a time that suits you,” he continued.

“The opportunity for Linktree is immense and I have no doubt we’ll achieve everything we intend to and more for our creators. The right path is rarely the easy path. Today’s change to our team is the hard path, but it puts us in a strong position to deliver on the opportunity we have in front of us.”

Linktree’s layoffs are just the latest in what is shaping up to be a global tech slump.

As of early August, more than 34,000 workers in the US tech sector have been laid off in mass job cuts in 2022, according to a Crunchbase News analysis.

In May and June, streaming giant Netflix sacked 300 employees (or 4% of its workforce) in a second round of job cuts after losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade, following 150 jobs lost the month prior.

In July, e-commerce giant Shopify sacked 10% of its global workforce, just one week after it announced its major integration with YouTube, while Aussie startup InDebted cut 40 staff (17% of the workforce) after it raised $22.5 million.

Zaccaria co-founded Linktree with his brother Anthony and friend Nick Humphreys in what grew from a simple “link in bio” function to become a $1.78 billion company.

The site is one of the most popular in the world, with 1.2 billion monthly views, widely used by influencers, brands, artists and businesses to turn a social media profile into a money-making mechanism.

Just two months ago the unicorn launched Linktree Marketplace which allows its 25+ million creators to add more than 30 Link Apps and integrations on their landing pages, and for visitors to watch, listen, shop, and donate in one place.

It integrates 30+ partners and services, including PayPal, Square, Shopify, GoFundMe, Youtube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Reddit, TikTok,and Twitch, while creators get more views, streams, purchases and donations.

At the time, Zaccaria told SmartCompany it “speaks to this evolution and to the breadth and diversity of our 25 million users”.

“With Linktrees across 250 different verticals and used by everyone from creators, big brands, entrepreneurs to your local pizza store down the street — we wanted to work more closely with our partners and help cater to our users’ evolving needs,” he said.

“This is exactly what Marketplace aims to do. It’s the one-stop partner directory for Link Apps and platform integrations, which provide access to native experiences and services that drive even more engagement and conversion.”

The marketplace came days after a Linktree launched a brand new look, which some critics rather humorously suggested resembled a sphincter — head of talent acquisition at Linktree Mitch King responded in kind.

“Yesterday Linktree announced our new branding after months of work. We were happy. We finally had our company merch. The mood was high,” he wrote on social media.

“Then some immature child from PEDESTRIAN.TV writes an article saying our new logo looks like a butthole. What is this, 6th grade?

“If it is a butthole, it’s our butthole and we love it.”

Zaccaria, however, took the high road.

“The rebrand marks our evolution from being seen as just a ‘link in bio’ tool to a platform that encompasses many facets of an individual’s digital universe ⁠— a home where creators can truly link to everything they are,” he told SmartCompany.

No doubt that evolution will be on pause as the remaining Linktree staff recover from the layoffs.