LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner steps down after 11 years

LinkedIn Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner is stepping down after 11 years in the role and will become executive chairman. Ryan Roslansky, currently senior vice president of product, will become CEO effective June 1, the Microsoft Corp. company said Wednesday in a statement.

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman hired Weiner, 49, in 2008, and he, in turn, brought on Roslansky later that year. The two helped take the company from a basic job board where resumes were posted to a community that is a much bigger resource for employment opportunities. During Weiner’s tenure, LinkedIn’s revenue increased to more than $7.5 billion in the trailing 12 months from $78 million, the company said. Membership jumped to almost 675 million from 33 million. Weiner guided the company through its initial public offering and the acquisition by Microsoft for $26 billion in 2016.

“Despite the scale and impact we’ve achieved thus far, it still feels like in many respects we’re just getting started,” Weiner said in an email to employees posted on LinkedIn.

Roslansky has served in leadership roles in almost every part of the company’s business. He was instrumental in developing LinkedIn’s influencer program and publishing platform and was key to reshaping the consumer and enterprise applications into one ecosystem. Roslansky will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Tomer Cohen, currently vice president of marketing solutions, will replace Roslansky as head of product.