Jeffrey “Jeff” Weiner (born February 21, 1970 in New York City, New York) is an American businessman. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking website. He began at LinkedIn on December 15, 2008, as interim president. Weiner played a key role in LinkedIn’s acquisition by Microsoft for $26 billion in June 2016.
Career
Weiner held several leadership roles at Yahoo for over seven years starting in 2001, most recently serving as Executive Vice President of Yahoo’s Network Division. As Executive Vice President, he led a team of over 3,000 employees and managed products that reached more than 500 million consumers. While working in Yahoo’s Network Division, he was part of the search leadership team that oversaw the acquisition and integration of Inktomi, AltaVista, and FAST, as well as the development of Yahoo’s search technology.
He worked at Warner Bros. as Vice President of Warner Bros. Online, developing its initial business plan. He also served as an executive-in-residence at leading venture capital firms Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.
In 2011, Weiner and Reid Hoffman were named overall U.S. winners of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
In 2014, Weiner was recognized by LinkedIn employees through Glassdoor’s annual survey as one of the “Top 10 CEOs of U.S. Tech Companies.”
In 2016, Weiner received media attention for donating his $14 million stock bonus to LinkedIn’s employee pool following a drop in the company’s stock price.
On February 5, 2020, Weiner announced that he would step down as CEO of LinkedIn and become Executive Chairman, focusing on closing the network gap and advancing LinkedIn’s vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. He named Ryan Roslansky as his successor.