Formerly popular mainland China vertical recruitment platform “Zhaopin.com” recently filed for bankruptcy. Chinese media reports indicate that the operating entity Beijing Zhaopin Network Technology Co., Ltd. has applied for bankruptcy reorganization. The platform was once hailed as a “unicorn” in the Internet recruitment industry, with over 20,000 Internet companies on board during its peak.
According to a report from “Economic Reference News” on May 22, 2026, on April 29, 2026, Beijing Zhaopin Network Technology Co., Ltd. filed for bankruptcy inspection; and on May 15, the case status was updated to a bankruptcy case. It was reported that this was a voluntary bankruptcy application by the company.
Furthermore, as reported by “Daily Economic News” on May 22, the shareholder of Zhaopin.com, “Fen Cheng Wu You”, confirmed that the bankruptcy application by Zhaopin.com is true. They stated that “Fen Cheng Wu You” and Zhaopin.com are two independent companies, and the bankruptcy application of Zhaopin.com will be handled according to relevant procedures.
Public records show that Zhaopin.com was established in March 2013 and officially launched “Zhaopin Recruitment” in July of the same year, focusing on the Internet vertical recruitment market. Eight months after the launch, Zhaopin.com secured a $5 million USD Series A financing round; in August 2014, it completed a $25 million USD Series B financing round; and in 2016, it received a $220 million C round of financing.
During its peak, Zhaopin.com had over 20,000 Internet companies on its platform, covering the majority of Internet startups and leading enterprises. In September 2017, the leading company in the recruitment industry, Fen Cheng Wu You, acquired 60% of Zhaopin.com’s equity for $120 million USD.
Currently, although Zhaopin.com’s official website is still accessible, user comments on many job listing pages stopped updating six months ago; no one answers the customer service phone calls; the official Weibo and WeChat accounts have not been updated since March 2025; and Zhaopin.com’s official app cannot be found on platforms like Apple’s App Store.
The news of Zhaopin.com filing for bankruptcy came as a surprise to many netizens. Some commented saying, “I didn’t expect the once frequently used job platform to reach this point,” and “This news is quite sudden.”
Zhaopin.com’s bankruptcy filing also occurred against the backdrop of continuous pressure on the mainland China job market. Epoch Times previously reported that the Chinese Communist Party recently put forward the so-called “big employment view” due to economic slowdown and increasing unemployment pressure. Estimates show that more than 20 million young people are facing difficulties in finding jobs this year, along with over 200 million so-called “flexible employment” workers. The official unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds announced by the Chinese Communist Party in March is 16.9%, the highest in four months.
In April, Epoch Times also reported that the Chinese Communist Party’s official first-quarter employment data was weak, with factors such as artificial intelligence replacing entry-level positions, external impacts, and decreased corporate recruitment intentions exacerbating employment pressure. Concurrently, the number of mainland recruitment-related enterprises has decreased in recent years. Over the past three years, the number of registered and operating recruitment and recruitment website-related enterprises in China has noticeably decreased.