LinkedIn Cuts 10% Of Staff

We’ve just heard from LinkedIn that the Sequoia-backed business network will be cutting 36 of 370 employees, or around 10% of the company. LinkedIn is saying that some of these employees will be reassigned to new roles (though the company won’t comment on how many new roles there will be).

It’s likely that the cuts were prompted by investors like Sequoia pushing for cost cutting (the VC gave portfolio companies a 56 Slide Presentation of Doom last month in light of the economic crisis). But LinkedIn isn’t about to run out of money: the company just closed a $22.7 million infusion, which came on top of a $53 million Series D round in June that pegged LinkedIn’s valuation at $1 billion.

Less than a week ago the site launched its application platform, the grown-up answer to platforms on sites like Facebook and MySpace that are overrun with games and trivial apps.