To millions of daily LinkedIn checkers, the most important piece of news on LinkedIn today is an update from the platform’s CEO Jeff Weiner himself. On Wednesday morning, Weiner announced in a blog post titled “It’s Time For My Next Play” that he would step down as LinkedIn’s chief executive on June 1 this year, ending his 11-year tenure at the helm of the career networking site.
Weiner will be replaced by LinkedIn’s current global head of product, Ryan Roslansky, as he retreats behind the scenes to serve as the company’s executive chairman
Weiner took the helm of LinkedIn in 2008 when the company passed the $1 billion valuation mark for the first time. Under Weiner’s reign, LinkedIn doubled its private-market valuation within two years through several rounds of venture capital funding and went public in 2011. In 2017, Microsoft bought the company for $27 billion in an all-cash deal, the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history. Today, LinkedIn has over 675 million users globally and generate $7.5 billion in annual revenue.
As for his “next play,” Weiner suggested that he would mirror the path of Hoffman -Founder of LinkedIn, who is a now a prolific angel investor in Silicon Valley
