[ASIA] Consolidation in Taiwan’s Internet industry is continuing, with portal site Yam.com last
week shedding 13 of its 220 employees.
The redundancies came in the content, business development, and search engine database building
areas. On December 18, thenews.com.tw–a joint venture between Yam.com and a local
English-language newspaper–ceased operations.
In recent months, Chinatimes.com has axed 20 positions, and taiwan.com–a subsidiary of
chinadotcom–has laid off 20 people. pAsia Inc, which offers e-commerce, domain name
registration and software services, shed 25 workers in November, while Acer’s Internet units
made 15 employees redundant.
One executive in a major Internet company, who did not wish to be named, said that he expects
the downsizing process will be drawn out, rather than dramatic, and would continue for another six
months or more.
The Internet industry is still attractive to Taiwan job seekers, in part because other sectors of the
economy are struggling.
According to a report issued last week by 104 Job Bank, a major human resources Web site,
applications for Internet-related jobs listed on 104’s site rose by 6.29 percent in November.