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Yahoo exits South Korea

October 19, 2012

Internet giant Yahoo has announced that it will close its operations in South Korea after 15 years of failed endeavors to neutralize domestic rivals. The company will also shut down an advertising company on the ground.

https://p.dw.com/p/16TMD
Yahoo logo behind a meadow
Image: dapd

The US Internet pioneer Yahoo announced on Friday that it would close the Web portal as well as the advertising company Overture Korea. Operations will be halted by the end of the year, the company announced.

It will be the first time that Yahoo has withdrawn from an Asian country. It has been active in South Korea since 1997, but has never been able to get a bigger foot in the door owing to strong domestic Web portals such as NHN Corporation's Naver and Daum Communications.

"The Korean operation has been faced with a lot of challenges and has slowed Yahoo's overall business growth for the past few years," the company announced in a statement.

No spent force yet

According to the research data firm KoreanKlick, Yahoo had a market share of only 1.5 percent. The company will redirect its Korean website to an English portal early next year.

The California-based company has been struggling hard to compete with its more successful rivals Google and Facebook.

Although Yahoo has lost ground against major competitors the world over, it is still a force to be reckoned with. Its mail and news portals are currently used by more than 700 million people every month.

hg/mkg (AP, Reuters, AFP)