Yahoo may reduce 300 jobs due to shut down of China office

According to reports, Yahoo is closing its office in China and this will lead to reduction of 200 to 300 jobs. Search and content major Yahoo, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, has been merging offices and reducing staff around the world. There were approximately 12,500 workers of the company worldwide at the end of 2014. The company didn’t reveal how many employees will be affected in China, but according to sources, Yahoo employed 200 to 300 people there.

According to Yahoo, “We are constantly making changes to align resources, and to foster better collaboration and innovation across our business. We currently do not offer local product experiences in Beijing but the office has served as a research and development centre”.

Yahoo is searching new ways in order to cut expenses; this is because the company is affected by pressure from the investors. These investors include Starboard Value, which has demanded cost-saving measures. In January, Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer said that the company has stressed on good organization by keeping its employee numbers little changed. The company took care of this thing even after investing in products and making purchases, which led to the increased staff at the portal, Mayor added.

According to Mr. Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research in Shanghai, this kind of R&D facility is a huge cost, and it doesn’t seem appropriate for a company facing weakness. He added that there is no importance of the company in China and it is not able to recruit top people. And Chinese companies are also not looking forward to take services of Yahoo for advertisements.

Last year, Yahoo shares increased 13%, partially due to the company’s stake of about 15% in Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company.