LinkedIn is pulling out of China, though Microsoft remains

 While Microsoft chases growth for Bing, Teams and its cloud service, Azure, from China, its Windows operating system still dominates in the country with stringent regulations

Microsoft Corp is shutting down LinkedIn in China following increased regulatory scrutiny, but the firm has other businesses still exposed in the important market.

While other tech behemoths — like Google and Facebook Inc. — have mostly stayed out of China, Microsoft’s search engine Bing and its cloud-based business software remain. In addition, its Windows operating system still dominates in China, the Wall Street Journal reported.

LinkedIn is the only major US-owned social network operating in the country, where the government requires such platforms to follow strict rules and regulations.

The Redmond, Washington-headquartered tech giant said it was pulling the plug on LinkedIn in China nearly seven years after its launch and would replace it with a stripped-down version of the platform that would focus only on jobs.

“We’re also facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China,” LinkedIn said in a blog post on Thursday, adding it did not find the same level of success in the more social aspects of sharing and staying informed like it has globally.

LinkedIn said it would replace the Chinese service with a new portal called InJobs.

The new service, which will be launched later this year, will not include a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles, it said.