Regional news sites + more things

Yahoo announces plans to kill off some regional news sites, sunsets Yahoo Classic Games, alerts, and profile sites | VentureBeat – this is really big, Yahoo! is abandoning high growth markets in the Middle East and South East Asia. Just this time 12 months ago I was looking at running an ad campaign with Yahoo! Vietnam so this is a shock.  What must have happened to Yahoo!’s ad sale operation in those 12 months is somethingThe closure of regional news sites implies a cutting down of the business to package it for a sale based around its core US customer base. More related content here.

Huawei Honor 6 Plus Preview – CNET – detailing still slipping on design, otherwise you are getting a reasonably well specified phone that would be adequate for man people. You can see how HTC is getting caught between the hammer and an anvil. Mid-range handsets is a squeeze point.

The secret to the Uber economy is wealth inequality | Quartz – sharing economy relies on grinding poverty and is almost Victorian in nature. The big expansion of gig economy businesses, combined with their confrontational approach to government regulation means that it will only last for so long.

Social sellers: A new weapon for brands on WeChat | Campaign Asia – Social sellers (people who are selling through WeChat but not using official WeChat shop interfaces known as ‘weidian’ 微店) could help to bring e-commerce on WeChat to the next level. The Weidian pose a challenge to the dominance of TaoBao.  (paywall).

McDonald’s Dim Jack to “hijack” HKTV’s drama to promote Chicken nuggets | Marketing Interactive – really interesting execution breaking the advertising / programming wall. The closest I have seen of this was Sega’s pirate TV break into adverts. Washing powder brand Tide also did this on their Super Bowl ad spots one year