China Herald: Yahoo!

Shaun Rein

Yahoo has announced it will close its remaining Beijing R&D facility. A move that only makes sense, given the poor shape the former internet giant is in now, tells business analyst Shaun Rein in Livemint. 300 People are going to lose their jobs.

Livemint:

“An R&D facility like this is a huge cost, and for a company as weak as Yahoo is now, it doesn’t make sense,” said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research in Shanghai. “Yahoo doesn’t have significance in China. Yahoo can’t really recruit top people and Chinese firms are not going to advertise on Yahoo.” For Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, the exit closes a chapter on a sometimes difficult history in China.

Executives came under criticism from human-rights activists and US law makers after the company turned over information to the Chinese government on journalist Shi Tao, who was later sentenced to 10 years in prison. Yahoo sold its Chinese operations to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in 2005.

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