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Yahoo is closing their research center in Beijing. The announcement may not seem that drastic. After all, offices close all the time. However, in... Yahoo Closing China Offices

Yahoo is closing their research center in Beijing. The announcement may not seem that drastic. After all, offices close all the time. However, in this case, there maybe hidden agendas. Yahoo’s Beijing office is the only location for Yahoo in China.

It said in a statement:

“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 continued, “We will be consolidating certain functions into fewer offices, including to our headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, US. Our impacted employees will be treated with respect and fairness through this transition.”

Yahoo services were originally run out of the Beijing office, but since all of Yahoo’s activities in the country now screened; web portal, music service and email, the offices were, for all intent and purposes, a research center. Yahoo’s operations in China are managed by Alibaba, but the Beijing office was actually Yahoo-controlled, where it employed 350 staff.

Although Yahoo hasn’t said precisely how many staff will be made redundant, it is looking likely that hundreds will be out of work.

When Marissa Mayer took up the position as CEO she decided to exit South Korea and focus on increasing business in the U.S. This means that cost cutting exercises would be put into place elsewhere; last year, layoffs were made in India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, and subsequently Singapore. The company also downsized its presence in the Middle East. Hundreds of staff are expected to be made redundant with the closure of the Beijing office.

[Image via nbcbayarea]

SOURCE: TechCrunch