Internet giant Yahoo to close Dubai office

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Internet giant Yahoo to close Dubai office Internet firm Yahoo is set to close its Dubai office in April to complete its withdrawal from the region. The company shut down its Cairo and Amman offices in the past few years and had been using Dubai as its Middle East headquarters. Yahoo opened the Dubai office in 2009, when it bought over the online portal Maktoob. A spokesman for Yahoo said: “Today we informed our Dubai-based employees that we’ve made the difficult decision to close the office by the end of April as a part of Yahoo’s effort to streamline our business and set the company up for long-term growth. “We are incredibly grateful for our employees’ hard work and contributions. We will continue to provide our suite of consumer services in Arabic and English and our advertising inventory through Yahoo marketplaces and other advertising exchanges.” Worldwide Yahoo had 724 million visitors last year, compared to Google’s figure of 1.2 billion, according to internet analytics firm ComScore. However, a Yahoo representative who spoke to 7DAYS last year said they had never seen Google as a competitor. Dawn Airey, the senior vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa of Yahoo, said at the time: “I don’t think Google is a competitor. We provide different services. “We are search, we are email, we have our own social platform Tumblr and we produce our own content – I don’t think Google do that.” A source told 7DAYS that about 30 employees had already been let go by the firm from their Dubai office. The company did not immediately respond to a 7DAYS request for comment. Yahoo users posted their reactions on social media. Christos Mastoras tweeted:  “Shame, not the endgame we had hoped for the biggest tech exit in MENA.” Maria Sazhneva posted on Twitter: “That’s sad! Yahoo Middle East to close Dubai office in bid to ‘streamline’ operations.” Andrew Coroneo tweeted: “A sad decline of a great Middle East business.” sarwat@7days.ae Read the original story at: Internet giant Yahoo to close Dubai office