The firm’s results for the second quarter of 2013 show print revenues down 50% to RMB11m (£1.15m) compared with Q2 2012, with the estimated number of print advertising pages it generated in 2012 declining 47% to 355.

51job says it has taken a “strategic decision to discontinue certain newspaper editions”, thus reducing the number of cities where its supplement 51job Weekly is distributed to five – half the number of cities covered in the same period last year.

In Q2 2012, print had made up more than 6% of the group’s revenue. As revenue has grown, this figure is now less than 3%.

Group-wide revenues of RMB404.4m grew by 12%, with online recruitment, representing two-thirds of the business, growing slightly above that rate.

The firm’s president and chief executive officer Rick Yan says: “Recent feedback we have received from enterprises continues to be favourable regarding their hiring plans for white-collar workers.

“We remain optimistic about market outlook as we focus on strategy execution and capturing opportunities in the evolving HR services industry in China.”

See next week’s August edition of Recruiter for the Global Spotlight on China, and stay tuned for more online on recruiter.co.uk, including thoughts from Totaljobs director Mike Booker, also the managing director of global job site alliance The Network.