LinkedIn abandons China and lays off 716 employees

LinkedInthe professional social network from Microsoft, has announced the shutdown of its Chinese version called InCareer due to “strong competition and difficult macroeconomic environment” in Chinese.

The platform, launched in 2014, represented a real white fly. It was indeed one of the very few western social platforms to be available in Chinaalbeit under the strict control of the central government. To comply with local rules, LinkedIn created a separate version of its site. To do so, he had handed over the management to a Chinese company, succumbing to strong censorship of politically sensitive content.

LinkedIn, indeed InCareer, closes in China

Over the last few years, the platform had lost ground to other similar social networks on the Asian market. In these hours the CEO of LinkedIn, Ryan Roslanskycommunicated in a letter to employees that InCareer will close on August 9, 2023. The closure will result in the layoff of 716 people. Roslansky explained that the change is part of a strategy to adapt to global economic conditions.

“To respond to market fluctuations and customer demand and to better serve emerging markets, we are increasing the use of external suppliers – wrote the CEO – and we are also reducing management levels to speed up the decision-making process”.

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LinkedIn had managed to penetrate the Chinese market by exploiting the culture of professional relationships, which is very important in a country where contacts and networking are precious resources. However, it has found itself isolated from other major US tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram e YouTubewhich have been blocked in China for failing to comply with strict regulations imposed by the government. Google also withdrew from China in 2010.

According to website Layoffs.fyi, more than 270,000 tech jobs were shed globally in the first half of 2023.