Yahoo To Close Down Around 50 Products

Yahoo is to shut down a number of its products which are no longer seen as important or to “contribute meaningfully.”

CEO Scott Thompson confirmed the plans during a discussion with analysts about the company’s latest financial report.

Rationalisation

Former PayPal boss Thompson, who joined Yahoo in January, did not say which products would be culled, but news, sport, finance, entertainment and mail will be spared. The decision was made after Thompson questioned how the company, which closed down GeoCities in 2009, would be organised if it were built from scratch today.

This soul searching means that around 50 properties will be shut down or transitioned as part of Thompson’s ongoing aim of streamlining the Internet giant.

“Each of our products and services may individually generate more engagement than most start-ups or even mid-sized companies in certain markets, but that does not mean that we should continue to do everything we currently do,” said Thompson.

Yahoo also plans to make better use of the company’s data and said it would use cookies to personalise news content and provide advertisers with a better understanding of how people use the site.

This will be particular useful given Thompson’s belief that Yahoo’s search partnership with Microsoft was not delivering what had been expected. He added that the two companies were working closely to increase revenues, but in any case, Yahoo is currently protected by a “revenue per search” guarantee from Microsoft until next March.

The closure of the services comes just weeks after it emerged that the company was planning to cull 2,000 jobs, mainly in the product, research and local businesses divisions, with more at risk. Yahoo has struggled in recent years. Microsoft failed in a bid to buy it for £28.2 billion in 2009, although it was rumoured that there was renewed interest in a takeover late last year.

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