A U.S. federal judge has ordered LinkedIn CEO Daniel Shapero and co-founder Reid Hoffman to undergo depositions in a 2022 class-action antitrust case. The lawsuit alleges the company holds a 97% market share and uses this position to overcharge for premium subscriptions. While the outcome remains uncertain, the legal process continues to create potential regulatory risks for the platform.
A U.S. federal judge has ordered senior LinkedIn executives to provide sworn testimony as part of an ongoing class-action antitrust lawsuit. The ruling mandates that current CEO Daniel Shapero sit for a four-hour deposition, while co-founder Reid Hoffman must provide three hours of testimony. This legal step marks a significant development in a 2022 case that accuses the professional networking platform of maintaining an illegal monopoly.
The core of the lawsuit alleges that LinkedIn controls over 97% of the professional social media market. The plaintiffs argue that this dominance allows the company to impose excessive pricing on its premium subscription services. LinkedIn has formally denied these claims, characterizing the allegations as baseless. The company, which was acquired by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in 2016, remains a central part of the tech giant's professional services portfolio.
The case has been active for several years, with a failed attempt to resolve the issue through a settlement. In December 2025, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. rejected a proposed deal, noting that it provided no monetary compensation to users and only requested adjustments to the platform's internal business practices. Because that settlement was blocked, the litigation has now moved into a discovery phase where executive questioning is considered essential to the plaintiffs' arguments.
From an investor perspective, the legal challenge brings ongoing scrutiny to LinkedIn’s operations. While Microsoft's overall stock movement is currently more sensitive to the company's performance in artificial intelligence and its Copilot product line, any court-ordered changes to LinkedIn's subscription or API practices could potentially affect its business model. The legal proceedings are complicated, and the court has yet to decide if the case will be certified as a formal class action, which would expand the scope of the potential impact.
The next important update for stakeholders will be the scheduling of these depositions and the subsequent ruling on whether the case can move forward as a class action. Investors may track these court filings to understand if the litigation presents a risk to the platform's pricing power or its long-term operational flexibility.