Yahoo is reportedly closing its operations in China, as part of chief executive Marissa Mayer’s plans to cut costs across the business.
According to The Wall Street Journal(WSJ), Yahoo is making up to 300 employees redundant, and will close a research centre in Beijing, its only physical presence on mainland China.
It follows a series of staff cuts across Yahoo’s global operations – up to 900 employees are believed to have been laid off since October, in markets including India and Canada.
A Yahoo spokesperson told M&M Global: “We are constantly making changes to align resources, and to foster better collaboration and innovation across our business. Today we informed our employees based in Beijing that we will be closing our office there.
"We currently do not offer local product experiences in Beijing but the office has served as a research and development center. We will be consolidating certain functions into fewer offices, including to our headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Our impacted employees will be treated with respect and fairness through this transition.”
While Yahoo holds a strong position in the Japanese market, it has found life in China altogether tougher. Since 2013, its Chinese homepage, Yahoo.cn, redirects traffic to its Singapore website.
Yahoo has enjoyed close relationship with Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, having invested in the company several years ago. It recently revealed plans tospin off its stake in Alibaba into a newly-register entity called SpinCo.
Alex Brownsell, London
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