BEIJING, April 22 (UPI) -- Yahoo! has announced it will close its Chinese email service in August, advising users to register with a new service to prevent loss of emails and data.

Users are being urged to register with AliCloud, a product run by Yahoo! China's parent company Alibaba, before the service is completely closed Aug. 19, Digitalspy.com reported.


Yahoo! China has been a part of Alibaba since a deal with reached in 2005 with Yahoo! Inc., although Chinese website Sina Tech is carrying reports suggesting the company is eager to return the operation to its U.S. parent next month.

"We will offer several options to our users to make this transition as smooth as possible, and China Yahoo! users will have four months time to migrate their accounts."

Yahoo! China's email service, despite having an estimated 218 million Chinese users in 2009, has fallen to a 2 percent market share in recent years against tough local competition.

In a statement announcing the closing, Yahoo! China said: "We will offer several options to our users to make this transition as smooth as possible, and China Yahoo! users will have four months time to migrate their accounts."