After shutting down its email service in China, now Yahoo China has shut down its web portal in China. Website now displays a bye message and then redirects users to now.taobao.com, a news website run by Alibaba Group’s Taobao. Yahoo China is operated by Alibaba Group.
Bye message makes it clear that the desicion to shut down Yahoo china is in accordance with a 2012 agreement made between Alibaba Group and Yahoo. All employees belong to Yahoo China will be moved to Alibaba.
Yahoo bought 40% stake in China’s Alibaba for $ 1 billion. Later Alibaba re-purchased few stakes from Yahoo for $7.6 billion with Yahoo’s remaining 24% stake in company. Since then, Alibaba Group is operating Yahoo China. Alibaba Group is also gradually ceasing Yahoo-branded services in China. In January, Yahoo had also ceased its music search in China. Few weeks back, Yahoo also announced to shutdown its mail service in China and transferred all accounts to Alibaba’s Alimail.
Alibaba is one of the top Internet companies in China. Alibaba is expected to go public in next two years. Company is estimated to be worth about $14 billion.
