Yahoo Sets Up Shop in Ireland To Handle European Growth

Sparked by growth in its European operations, Yahoo announced today it will open a European operations headquarters in Ireland to provide support to its main European headquarters in London.

Yahoo plans create almost 400 new jobs in the Dublin office over the next five years.

The Irish operation will be responsible for Yahoo’s European business in three main areas:

• A shared services center will be responsible for accounting and revenue activities and statutory reporting.
• A Web hosting center will support databases for Yahoo’s family of Web sites, other applications and systems.
• A customer support center with a centralized multi-lingual support service and Web site editorial team will round out operations.

The Internet giant’s diverse online portfolio positions it well to achieve success in its strategy for future growth in Europe, Yahoo international public relations spokesperson Scott Morris told the E-Commerce Times.

Skilled Workforce

“We do have European headquarters in London, but several factors influenced our decision to locate operational headquarters in Dublin,” he said. “The success of Overture Services, our existing operation in Dublin, was one factor. Ireland has also become very attractive to large companies that have multi-national operations because of its highly skilled, highly fluent workforce.”

Yahoo will need that highly skilled workforce, with 75 percent of the jobs requiring higher level qualifications in areas such as Web site editorial, IT, financial services and customer support.

Yahoo executives also cited the up-to-date and cost competitive telecommunications and data center infrastructures and the assistance of IDA Ireland as a factor that drew the company there.

Software Exporter

Ireland is the world’s largest exporter of software and home to American companies including Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Intel.

“The company’s decision to locate here proves that Ireland is a serious contender for the world’s largest Internet companies,” Ireland’s Economy Minister Micheal Martin said. “It also endorses Ireland’s ability to support global activities that are people-intensive and require a continuous high volume of graduates in many disciplines.”