Internet Company, Yahoo Japan has announced the suspension of its services in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, beginning from April 6th, but the halt would not affect the company’s email, credit card, and ebook services in the aforementioned areas.
The company in a statement premised its decision to halt operations in Europe on the cost of complying with European regulations, which would include GDPR. The statement highlighted its difficulty in the provision of continuous service for customers in the EEA and UK.
Yahoo Japan in another release to Japanese publication, IT Media, said that it would be “impossible” to meet the cost of compliance and respond to the related laws.
The Kioi Tower-based company has in recent times raised the bar in the expansion of its home market and one of such is last year’s merger with Z Holdings. Yahoo Japan had aligned with SoftBank-owned parent, Z Holdings to create a new tech giant with global-inclinated ambitions.
The CEO of Line, Takeshi Idezawa, who is now the co-CEO of Z Holdings together with Kentaro Kawabe, the CEO of Yahoo Japan in a joint statement during the merger posited that the new company “would like to launch a global smartphone app.”
Yahoo Japan, originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! and the Japanese company SoftBank is a separate entity from the American former web giant owned by the Apollo private equity firm, though was already placed as a joint venture between the U.S. Yahoo and SoftBank in 1996.
The company still maintained its brand presence and popularity in Japan, and one of the reasons why this is so is that it was a web portal and search engine, with numerous other Japanese-language services, that included online auctions, e-commerce, and well-regarded weather and maps apps.
The suspension of its services in Europe may be a tough call but the company knowing that it’s Europe user base won’t be enough to worth the cost of adhering to the EU regulations sees that as the only option at the moment. Also, its services are majorly provided in Japanese, making its reach limited.
But then, the decision to quit in Europe remains a big call as such renowned web company with a massive presence in its primary market will decide it is unable to operate in Europe.