diff --git a/examples/grpc/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/grpc/CMakeLists.txt
index 50e33beed6..64edd52ddb 100644
--- a/examples/grpc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/grpc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -45,8 +45,7 @@ endif()
 
 foreach(_target client server)
   add_executable(${_target} "${_target}.cc")
-  target_link_libraries(
-    ${_target} example_grpc_proto protobuf::libprotobuf gRPC::grpc++
-    opentelemetry_trace opentelemetry_exporter_ostream_span)
+  target_link_libraries(${_target} example_grpc_proto gRPC::grpc++
+                        opentelemetry_trace opentelemetry_exporter_ostream_span)
   patch_protobuf_targets(${_target})
 endforeach()