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| Yahoo withdraws from China due to difficult circumstances |
After first entering China in 1998, Yahoo discontinued its services in China and became the last US technology company to withdraw from China.
"Given the increasingly serious challenges facing business and the legal environment in China, we will no longer be able to use our services in China from November 1," a Yahoo spokesperson said in a statement.
"The company remains committed to protecting the rights of its users and a free and open Internet," he added. We thank users for their support.
As of November 1, the company has stopped serving content to Chinese users. It redirects Yahoo Mail and AOL users to other links.
Since 2013, many business functions in China, including email and messaging, have disappeared. In 2015, the company closed its Beijing office and laid off nearly 300 employees.
The company has joined LinkedIn, Microsoft's professional network. LinkedIn announced last month that it was leaving China due to a stricter operating environment and stricter compliance requirements in China.
For a long time, doing business in China has posed many challenges for private companies. However, in recent months, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched wide-ranging regulatory measures against the technology, education, gaming and entertainment industries.
This move wiped out much of the market value of the largest Chinese companies.
The country's latest five-year plan promises to tighten rules to combat monopolistic behavior and regulate technological innovation.
The authorities also urged law enforcement agencies to act in areas that affect the vital interests of the population, including financial services, education and counselling.
Yahoo joins LinkedIn and leaves China
Yahoo was one of the largest technology companies in the world. But their influence has waned dramatically over the past decade.
Several CEOs have tried to change the course of the company. However, they failed to regain the share of the search and advertising market that Yahoo once dominated.
It was recently acquired by Verizon's Apollo Global Management in a $5 billion deal.
The company was an early investor in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. In 2012, it reached an agreement with Alibaba Group to sell its stake in the e-commerce giant.
Then Yahoo sold about half of its huge stake in Alibaba for $7.1 billion and returned $3 billion to shareholders.
The deal also gave Alibaba the right to operate Yahoo China under the Yahoo brand for four years.
The company also previously operated music services in China. But it was also dropped in early 2010.
Yahoo has discontinued messaging services and portals in China. However, the brand established a global R&D center in Beijing until it closed in 2015.