Yahoo is packing its bags and leaving China for good. After entering the Chinese market more than 20 years ago, the American web service provider has officially taken down its suite of services from mainland China as of Nov 1. Yahoo cited "the increasingly challenging business and legal environment" as the reason for its departure.
Yahoo's decision doesn't come out of the blue. The company had already been significantly scaling back its Chinese operations in the last couple of years. In 2015, it sold a stake of its business to Alibaba before taking down its email services and web portal. However, the latest government crackdown on content and customer privacy has convinced Yahoo to leave the market altogether.
Why it matters
Yahoo is not the only tech company leaving China. Microsoft (MSFT), for example, shut down Linkedin last month — marking the end of the last major US-owned social network in China. Epic Games (creator of Fortnight) will shortly follow after China announced new rules that limit the amount of time under-18s can spend on video games.
