Yahoo Shuts Down Its Email Service In China
TechCrunch |
In
January, for example, Yahoo China shutdown its Chinese music service,
citing an “adjustment in our product strategy.” A notice on Yahoo China
email’s site says that users with the suffixes @yahoo.com.cn and
@yahoo.cn can register and transfer their data to a new Alimail account,
where they will continue to receive emails send to their Yahoo
addresses until December 31, 2014.
The
Sunnyvale-based company paid $1 billion for a 40% stake in Alibaba in
2005. Since then, Alibaba has grown into the backbone of China’s
burgeoning e-commerce market. In September, Alibaba closed an initial
repurchase of its shares from Yahoo for $7.6 billion. Yahoo’s remaining
24% stake in the Chinese company, which is expected to go public within
the next two years, is estimated to be worth about $14 billion.
The
Sunnyvale-based company isn’t relying solely on its investment in
Alibaba, however, to ensure a footprint in China. Yahoo recently
acquired Ztelic, a Beijing-based startup that focuses on social-network
data. Eight Ztelic developers and engineers joined Yahoo’s research and
development team in Beijing, while Ztelic founder (and returning Yahoo)
Hao Zheng was slated for a “critical leadership role in our Beijing
Global R&D Center,” a Yahoo spokeswoman told us.