New LinkedIn CEO named
- Microsoft promoted longtime executive Daniel Shapero to CEO of LinkedIn, replacing Ryan Roslansky. - Shapero most recently served as Microsoft's chief operating officer before taking the LinkedIn role. - Observers framed the move around AI and creator strategy, flagging potential product shifts toward creator tools and AI-enabled professional services (techcrunch.com).
Microsoft named Daniel Shapero chief executive of LinkedIn on April 22, replacing Ryan Roslansky in the top job effective immediately. (cnbc.com) Shapero has been at LinkedIn since 2008 and served as chief operating officer for the past five years after earlier roles in sales, marketing, and product, Roslansky said. Roslansky, who became LinkedIn chief executive in 2020, will stay at Microsoft as an executive vice president with broader responsibility tied to Office. (cnbc.com) The change lands in the middle of a wider Microsoft reshuffle. On March 12, Microsoft said longtime executive Rajesh Jha would retire and that Roslansky would become one of Satya Nadella’s direct reports. (blogs.microsoft.com) LinkedIn is no longer a side property inside Microsoft. The company said membership grew to 1.3 billion under Roslansky from about 700 million, and CNBC reported LinkedIn revenue rose 11% year over year in Microsoft’s latest quarter. (cnbc.com) That scale helps explain why Microsoft kept tightening the link between LinkedIn and its workplace software. When Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion, it said the deal would connect the network to products including Office 365 while preserving LinkedIn’s separate brand. (news.microsoft.com) The handoff also comes as Microsoft pushes artificial intelligence across Office and LinkedIn. CNBC reported Microsoft has been adding AI features to both products while spending heavily on data centers to support AI services. (cnbc.com) TechCrunch framed the leadership move around LinkedIn’s next product phase, pointing to creator tools and AI-powered professional services as likely areas of focus. The outlet reported Shapero takes over immediately after Roslansky’s six-year run leading the professional network. (techcrunch.com) Roslansky said Shapero “knows our members” and “our customers,” while Shapero wrote that professionals are being transformed by AI and that he plans to start by “learning and listening.” The immediate question is whether that continuity produces a quieter transition than the title change suggests. (cnbc.com)
