Yahoo Inc is shutting down its office in China, a move that will eliminate 200 to 300 jobs, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The Web portal, which has been consolidating offices and trimming staff around the world, told employees based in Beijing that it will close the site, Yahoo said in a statement on Wednesday.
Yahoo had about 12,500 workers worldwide at the end of last year. While the company did not say how many would be affected in China, it employed 200 to 300 people there, said the person, who asked not to be named because the number is not being disclosed publicly.
“We are constantly making changes to align resources, and to foster better collaboration and innovation across our business,” Yahoo said in the statement. “We currently do not offer local product experiences in Beijing, but the office has served as a research and development center.”
Yahoo is looking for new ways to trim expenses as it comes under pressure from investors, such as Starboard Value LP, who have called for cost-saving measures.
Starboard Value chief executive officer Marissa Mayer in January said the company has focused on efficiency by keeping its employee numbers little changed even as it invested in products and made acquisitions that added staff at the portal, whose revenue growth has stalled since 2008.
“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,” China Market Research managing director Shaun Rein said. “Yahoo doesn’t have significance in China. Yahoo can’t really recruit top people and Chinese firms are not going to advertise on Yahoo.”
Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo sold its Chinese operations to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) in 2005.
Last month, Yahoo cut about 1 percent of its workforce, or about 125 people, including editorial staff in Canada. The company also closed its office in Amman, Jordan, and eliminated about 400 positions at its site in Bangalore, India, in recent months.
The closing of the China office was not related to any government concerns, the person familiar with the plan said. The move was reported earlier by the South China Morning Post.
Yahoo’s move is the latest in a series of retrenchments by US technology companies operating in China. Last month, game maker Zynga Inc said it will close its Beijing office, terminating employment of 71 workers.
Microsoft Corp in December last year said it was shutting phone factories in Beijing and Dongguan, China, as part of a consolidation of its Asia manufacturing in Vietnam.
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