Yahoo has shut down its news websites in India including Yahoo News, Yahoo Cricket, Finance, Entertainment and MAKERS India. The reason is the new foreign direct investment (FDI) rules, which limit foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India.
However, this will not affect Yahoo e-mail and search experiences in India.
“As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account, Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership,” stated a notice on the Yahoo website.
“We did not come to this decision lightly. 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. Yahoo has had a long association with India and we’re really proud of the premium, local content we have provided our users here for the last 20 years,” Yahoo said in the FAQ section.
Thanking its users in India for the “support and trust” over two decades, Yahoo – which was acquired by US tech major Verizon in 2017 — noted that it remains “open to opportunities that connect us to users here.”
New FDI regulations that will come into effect in October mandate that digital media companies in India can accept up to 26 per cent investment in the form of foreign investment, subject to Central government’s approval.
“In case you are a Yahoo Mail user, this change does not affect you in any way. This development does not impact our products Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Search, where we will continue to serve users in India as before, without any change,” it said.
