Yahoo entered South Korea fifteen years ago and has now exiting the country on December 31 according to reports from Yonhap News Agency. The exact date of the move from the U.S. based technology company was announced at the start of December making South Korea the first Asian country Yahoo has exited. Currently users receive a message on Yahoo’s South Korean site that says it will close by December 31.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer had made the initial announcement in October. She had said that the company was looking to pull out and pay attention to stronger markets. When the decision by the company was made public at the time, Yahoo released 200 staff in the Korean offices. Mayer explained the move by saying that, “this decision is part of our efforts to streamline operations and focus our resources on building a stronger global business that’s set up for long-term growth and success.”
Yahoo was unable to compete against local South Korean portals like NHN and Daum Communications who controlled 99% of the market. Yahoo Korea represent less than 1% market share, making it one of the less successful websites for the company in Asia. Yahoo also shutdown their music service in China that was not performing well.
Yahoo has become another victim of the intense competition in Korea and joins the likes of Motorola and HTC which also lost out to local giants like Samsung and LG.
Source: TechCrunch
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