Ryan Roslansky stepped down as LinkedIn’s CEO on Wednesday after six years running the world’s largest professional network. Dan Shapero, the company’s COO, takes over immediately.
Roslansky’s tenure deserves attention. He joined LinkedIn in 2009 — he was one of Jeff Weiner’s first hires — and spent more than a decade working through nearly every corner of the business before taking the top job in June 2020, at the height of pandemic-era labor market chaos.
He inherited a platform with 700 million members and roughly $8 billion in annual revenue. He’s leaving with 1.3 billion members and $19 billion in revenue — a solid run by any measure.
That revenue growth may be inseparable from a transformation he accelerated, turning a glorified jobs board into something closer to a full-blown social network, where executives share personal essays, post career advice, and occasionally sob on camera. (You may have feelings about that; millions of people apparently do, and they’re not shy about sharing them.)
You needn’t feel bad for Roslansky, who also holds the title of EVP at Microsoft, which acquired LinkedIn in 2016. He made clear on LinkedIn that he’s staying on in this expansive role, with Shapero — who already reports to him — continuing to report to him.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated Roslansky’s role. His responsibilities aren’t expanding; he remains an EVP at Microsoft, a title he was given last June. The new CEO’s reporting structure is also unchanged.
