A Yahoo senior vice president reportedly announced via an internal email that they will close their research and development center in Beijing.
According to reports in Chinese local media, the shutdown of the Beijing R&D center is a part of the company's global layoff plan. An internal employee revealed that Yahoo will offer "N+4" compensations to employees; however, detailed compensations need to be discussed with their respective managers.
The Yahoo Beijing R&D center was established in June 2009. As an innovation engine of Yahoo worldwide, the Beijing R&D center was committed to providing innovative technologies, products, and development platforms to global businesses of Yahoo. It focused on four major R&D directions, including personalization, advertising, mobile and cloud computing.
Over recent years, Yahoo changed its CEO frequently and the company continued to cut employees around the world. From 2008 to 2012, Yahoo dismissed up to 6,000 employees. In Asia, the company cut 400 employees in Bangalore office in October 2014. However, Yahoo offered working opportunities in the U.S. to over 40% of those impacted employees.
Most importantly for the company's China tenure, Yahoo released private email account details to the Chinese government that resulted in the imprisonment of Chinese journalist Shi Tao in 2005. Yahoo ostensibly forfeited the information in exchange for maintaining a smooth business operation in China.