Says regulatory changes requiring local ownership made it impossible to continue, but fancies a comeback
Yahoo!’s Indian outpost has stopped publishing news – even news about cricket.
“We did not come to this decision lightly,” states an FAQ about the shut-down, adding “However, Yahoo! India has been impacted by changes to regulatory laws in India that now limit the foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India.”
The FAQ says India’s laws impact even Yahoo Cricket, because that includes news content, while the site’s entertainment news and MAKERS India – a site dedicated to “Women who make India” has also gone. Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! News have also gone dark.
Yahoo! India’s email and search services remain intact.
The regulations referred to in Yahoo! India’s FAQ are the Foreign Direct Investment Policy of India, which permit 26 per cent foreign direct ownership of digital media companies. Yahoo! India is owned by Apollo Global Management after Verizon offloaded the Purple Palace along with AOL for $5 billion. Verizon sold Yahoo! after abandoning its strategy of creating a combined carriage and content colossus.
