Dubai: Yahoo has denied rumours of closing its Dubai headquarters, the only remaining office in the Arab world.
“The Middle East and North Africa region continues to be an important market for Yahoo. Yahoo Maktoob’s operations will continue to be supported from our regional office in Dubai and from other locations,” a Yahoo spokesperson told Gulf News.
Yahoo decided to close its headquarters in Amman by end of this year after closing its Cairo office last year.
The internet portal is cutting down its operations after entering the Arab World, with the acquisition of Maktoob for $164 million in 2009, as part of restructuring in bid to drive more user traffic and revenue growth. The portal cut around 400 jobs in India last month, and some engineers were offered to relocate to Yahoo’s offices in California.
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO had said that it is cutting costs and expenditures amid mounting pressure from shareholders to revive growth at the internet portal.
“In Yahoo EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa], we will be undertaking an operational review that proposes changes to the way our teams and businesses are structured in the region. This is part of our efforts to streamline our EMEA operations and realign resources and investments in a way that sets up Yahoo’s business in the region on a path of sustainable growth,” the spokesperson said.
The EMEA region continues to be an important market for Yahoo, and “we are strongly committed to delivering the best possible products and experiences for our users and advertisers,” Yahoo said.
When asked how many staff is going to be reduced in Dubai, the spokesperson said that Yahoo does not disclose the number of employees for individual offices. “We do not discuss employee matters”.
There are reports which states that Yahoo is laying off sales people in Malaysia, Vietnam, Hungary and Indonesia. Employees in Indonesia and Malaysia have been told that Yahoo will be closing its offices by December 14.
An industry expert said that the portal is cutting staff and closing offices outside the US as it faces pressure from the growth in Google and Facebook. Even though its search revenues are up, they are still smaller than ads.
“The company is focusing on building its operations in the US through acquisitions and has appointed a new senior vice-president for ad sales in North America. Yahoo still has a long way to go to be in the position of Google and Facebook,” he said.
