Popular business networking and job search platform LinkedIn has announced layoffs for 716 employees and terminated its China-specific jobs app, InCareer.
The decisions were revealed in a statement from the company sent to employees. The move is suspected to affect around 3.5 percent of LinkedIn’s 19,000 employees worldwide. As for the job application service, the company has confirmed the swift end of InCareer, just under a year and a half after its initial creation in December 2021.
In the statement, CEO Ryan Roslansky said, “Though InCareer experienced some success in the past year thanks to our strong China-based team, it also encountered fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate.”
The move comes during a pretty dull time for LinkedIn and its parent company Microsoft, with the third quarter showing only 8 percent growth year over year in LinkedIn revenue, according to Microsoft’s earnings report and quarterly SEC filing.
A LinkedIn help page has confirmed that all user data will be deleted from InCareer by August 9th, 2023.
The move marks a serious blow to the company’s Chinese market, although it will continue its Learning, Marketing, and Talent businesses in the country. Roslansky went on to mention that the site would ‘continue to manage expenses’ going forward, meaning that further cuts and releases have not been ruled out.
Despite the total number of InCareer and LinkedIn users in China exceeding 57 million, according to an InCareer page, Roslansky’s note confirms that the plan to move forward was essential for the business.
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