Popular business social networking platform LinkedIn announced on Monday that it will be discontinuing InCareer, a China-specific job app. According to the company’s announcement, approximately 716 employees worldwide will be laid off.
In a company message, LinkedIn’s CEO Ryan Roslansky stated, “As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees.”
The Microsoft-owned platform will affect about 3.5% of LinkedIn’s roughly 19,000 employees worldwide. InCareer was launched in December 2021 after sunsetting its localized LinkedIn product in China.
Roslanksy continued, “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.”
These layoffs include a complete discontinuation of engineering and product teams in China locations, as well as a significant downsizing of sales and marketing functions. Some of these employees will remain in China – however, they will be focusing on training other employees.
LinkedIn plans on officially shutting down the InCareer app by August 9.
Roslansky closed his statement saying that “Our focus over the next week is on supporting our impacted colleagues. We are saying goodbye to exceptional individuals, and any company will be fortunate to have them.”
The platform will still be operating its ‘Learning,’ ‘Marketing’ and ‘Talent’ businesses on China, but Roslansky signaled that the company will continue to “manage expenses” in the year ahead. This could be suggestive, hinting that further cost cuts or layoffs may be expected.
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