Yahoo Japan has announced that most of its online services will cease to be accessible in the European economic area and the UK as of April 6th. The company’s email, credit card, and ebook services will continue to be available, but everything else is going dark.
Yahoo Japan says it would be’impossible’ to meet cost of complying with European regulations, which would include GDPR. In a statement, Yahoo Japan said the cost of compliance would be difficult.
Yahoo Japan is an entirely separate entity to the American former web giant now owned by the Apollo private equity firm. Set up as a joint venture between the US Yahoo and SoftBank in 1996.
Yahoo Japan’s softbank-owned parent Z holdings merged with dominant Japanese chat app line last year. Yahoo Japan is heightening its efforts to expand beyond its home market.