VietNamNet Bridge – The office of Yahoo in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia will be closed as Singapore will be its hub in Asia.

According to Campaign Asia-Pacific, Yahoo's operations in these countries will stop completely at the end of the year. Yahoo spokesman said the move would lead to mass layoffs and key employees will be transferred to Singapore.

In early November, TechCrunch also quoted a source saying that Yahoo would lay off 25 employees in Vietnam, 50 in Indonesia and 15 in Malaysia. According to this technology news site, the staff of Yahoo Indonesia and Yahoo Malaysia had been informed that the offices would cease operations on December 14.

“We have informed our employees in Indonesia and Malaysia that we’ve made the difficult decision to close the office by the end of the year. This decision is part of Yahoo’s global efforts to streamline operations, which will help us execute quickly and deliver more efficiency, collaboration and innovation,” Campaign Asia-Pacific cited the Yahoo spokesperson.

The move by Yahoo contrasts with other social media firms such as Facebook or Twitter, as they are strongly attacking similar markets. However, Yahoo said the company's products and services in the three countries would still be supported from the Singapore office.

A Yahoo representative in Vietnam told VNE online newswire that they had not heard the information and had no comment.

Yahoo set up a representative office in Vietnam in late 2007. In 2008, during his visit to Vietnam, Mr. Ken Mandel, Yahoo Vice President and CEO in Southeast Asia, said Yahoo was planning to establish a company in Vietnam to make investment plans for the Group.

Yahoo also earlier stopped providing certain features such as Yahoo Blog, Yahoo 360 and public chat room on Yahoo Messenger.

Quy Duong