Linden Lab layoffs

Over the weekend we got a number of anonymous tips in that Linden Lab had some key layoffs in the works. Tips ranged from the extremely vague, to suggesting that as many as a dozen business development staff were being let go, or that a high-profile Linden Lab staffer was departing. Lots of conflicting rumors don't yield much certainty, so we took a punt and tried to ask the Lab.

Linden Lab responded to our inquiry on the matter (you could have knocked us over with a feather when they did, actually), and clarified things a bit.

Linden Lab is profitable, healthy and growing. We've hired 100 people this year and have open positions we are working to fill. We are also increasing our investment in core strategic initiatives related to platform stability, usability and several new product areas. As we've refocused on these core initiatives, we've had to make some hard decisions about resources and as a result we eliminated four positions out of our headcount of nearly 300. We do eliminate positions from time to time, and of course we have some attrition (in the single digits), though historically less than half the industry average.

We cannot, at present, determine where those four lost positions are from, but it seems obvious that they would be related to strategic direction changes within the company. Linden Lab has been working pretty hard to reinvent and reposition themselves over the last year. If we had to guess, we'd say that they most likely came from somewhere around the Community Team. Your guess is as probably as good as ours, however.

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