Microsoft’s employment-focused social network platform, LinkedIn has been hit with another round of layoffs. This time, 719 people are out of jobs. The company also indicated that it will be closing down its China app, InCareer.
In a letter directed to the affected employees, the Chief Executive Officer of LinkedIn Corporation, Ryan Roslansky penned down that while the decision was difficult to make, the company was facing a different economic reality that has negatively impacted its earnings.
Roslansky further stated:
As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees.
This isn’t the first time LinkedIn has been hit by layoffs this year, back in February the tech firm encountered another round of layoffs that affected employees part of the recruitment department. These layoffs are part of Microsoft’s planned layoffs strategy that’s designed to help keep the company stay afloat and cut down on expenditures.
LinkedIn launched the InCareer app back in 2021 for the Chinese market shortly after announcing its plans to discontinue the localized version of the professional network for the Chinese market due to a “challenging operating environment.”
And while the company’s InCareer has experienced immense success over the past couple of years, LinkedIn cites that the app has faced fierce competition recently which has, in turn, affected its macroeconomic climate.
As such, the company has moved to shut down the services rendered via the app. According to LinkedIn’s help page, all user data will be deleted from the InCareer app by August 9, 2023.
LinkedIn will continue to run the rest of its businesses in China, including its LinkedIn Learning product but with restraint in terms of expenses. The company will also continue to help organizations with the recruitment process as its Talent, Marketing, and Learning business is still in place.
“As we plan for [the fiscal year of 2024], we’re expecting the macro environment to remain challenging, We will continue to manage our expenses as we invest in strategic growth areas,” says the company CEO.
While the layoffs across Microsoft are quite unfortunate, there’s more to come as the company is yet to hit the 10,000 job cuts mark announced at the beginning of this year. Other tech firms like Meta and Amazon have also found themselves facing tough economic times which prompted them to layoff some of their staff.