It’s a real blow that no one saw coming. While Snap has announced a vast layoff plan for 1,200 employees, the tricolor company Zenly, which has been in the fold of the American group since 2017, is also concerned. And not just a little, since the Parisian company at the head of a social network of 35 million users will close. Its 70 employees will also be made redundant.

Zenly, a very popular application in Asia

According to information from Figaro, the tricolor nugget had everything to see the future with serenity. Thus, since its acquisition by Snap, five years earlier, the social network has experienced spectacular growth, going from 120,000 to 35 million users. Worse, the employees had even received congratulations from their parent company last July and shares as a reward for the progress made.

As explained Techcrunch, it is not uncommon for tech giants to close applications after several years, particularly in the context of restructuring and to reduce costs. However, the closure of Zenly remains very surprising in view of its popularity. Despite everything, the app generates relatively little direct revenue from its activity, according to Snap’s criteria.

Quoted by our colleagues, a spokesperson for the American company justifies this decision by explaining that the company wishes to refocus on its own application which already has a Snap Map functionality, identical to that of Zenly. Concretely, it is a social mapping service that allows you to geolocate your friends and exchange with them.

However, this news appears frustrating for this social network, which is relatively unknown in Europe and the United States, but which is very successful in Asia, and especially in Japan. However, Snap seems to prefer to close this service rather than resell it to a competitor. Le Figaro finally reports that employees are now waiting to learn more about the terms of the company’s closure. A redeployment cell is set up to support them.