As lucrative as a market as China is, it can be difficult for Western companies to actually establish a foothold in the country. Yahoo is the latest such company to call it quits in China and has announced that it will be shutting down its research center in Beijing and lay off hundreds of its staff. This is part of CEO Marissa Mayer’s plan to focus more on the United States and shave off outside expenses.
Yahoo is bidding adios to China with the closure of its research center in Beijing — its only location in the country — as SCMP first reported. Hundreds of staff are expected to be laid off. “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,” Yahoo said in a statement. The Beijing office originally ran Yahoo services in China, but with all of its consumers-facing activities in the country now shuttered — including its web portal, music service and email — the office effectively become a research center. Sources at the company told SCMP that, with wages two times higher in China than India and no specific services in China, the presence wasn’t particularly logical.
