LinkedIn, operator of the world's largest professional networking website, is keeping a cautious eye on the mainland market as it seeks to speed up growth in Hong Kong.
The California-based company, which has more than 150 million members worldwide, yesterday launched its office in Hong Kong to directly support nearly 500,000 users in the city. It is the firm's ninth office in Asia and its 25th worldwide.
'With more than 2,400 regional corporate offices and over 1,300 regional headquarters, Hong Kong has a skilled talent base and reputation as a leading international centre of finance that makes it an important market for LinkedIn,' said Arvind Rajan, the managing director for Asia-Pacific and Japan operations.
LinkedIn, which has more than 25 million members across the Asia-Pacific region, said the Hong Kong office would also support millions of its members across markets in North Asia, including the mainland.
'We have about 2 million members in [mainland] China that are using LinkedIn's website in English,' Rajan said.
He said entering the mainland, where LinkedIn has not applied for a licence, was 'a bigger proposition than just offering a local-language service' because it was 'a very competitive and complicated market'.