Yahoo pulled the plug on an online video hub that had once been envisioned as the beleaguered company's answer to Netflix and YouTube.
The end of the Yahoo Screen is part of a purge being directed by CEO Marissa Mayer with hopes of generating greater profit elsewhere.
Mayer oversaw an overhaul of Yahoo Screen 16 months ago that came in the form of a new mobile application, thousands of clips from NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and a wide variety of other popular TV shows.
But Yahoo Screen never attracted the vast audiences that flock to Netflix and YouTube.
Yahoo is now scattering its video across its digital magazines and other services, such as Yahoo Music.
"We're constantly reviewing and iterating on our products as we strive to create the best user experience," Yahoo said in a printed statement.
Mayer has pledged to jettison technology that fails to justify the amount of money that Yahoo has been investing in them.
Yahoo telegraphed that its video expansion was faltering in October when it disclosed a $42 million charge to account for original shows, such as "Community," that had flopped.
Mayer is expected to provide more details about her latest plans for reorganization in about three weeks when the Sunnyvale, California, company announces its fourth-quarter results.
Industry analysts are expecting the steepest decline in Yahoo's revenue, after subtracting ad commissions, since the company lured Mayer away from Google to become its CEO three-and-a-half years ago.
Shares of Yahoo have fallen by about 35 percent since the end of 2014 as the difficulty of reviving company revenue growth has become evident, and that has increased the pressure on Mayer to take more drastic measures. There have even been calls for Yahoo to sell all of its online operations, but Mayer and the company's board have rebuffed those demands to far.
By building a compelling video hub, Mayer had hoped to lure advertising away from Google, whose operations include YouTube, and social networking leader Facebook, which also boasts millions of clips shared by its users.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More