Yahoo Sports has made its entire UK editorial team redundant as it focuses on US sports coverage.
Press Gazette understands six editorial staff have left as a result including head of sport Raj Mannick who joined from ITN in 2018.
The digital newsbrand is owned by US media company Verizon Media, which also owns Huffpost and other Yahoo brands.
Journalists were told there was no longer any need for a sports team in the UK as the company was “putting all their efforts” on the US side, according to one source.
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Another said there had been no indication that the cuts were coming.
The Yahoo Sports UK website is still live but appears to be using wire and syndicated copy rather than producing any more original journalism.
A Yahoo Sports spokesperson said: “At Yahoo Sports we are thankful for the contributions the team has made as we continue to focus our efforts on creating the best experience for our fans on mobile.
“We are aligning our resources to opportunities where we feel we can differentiate ourselves and can scale faster to deliver a best in class experience to our fans.”
Verizon Media is part of US telecommunications giant Verizon which bought AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017 for $4.4bn (£3.4bn) each.
The company also signed a major deal with the NFL in 2017 reportedly worth $2.5bn (£1.9bn) allowing it to stream live American Football league games on mobile phones in the US.
Last year Yahoo Sports partnered with betting firm Bet MGM to give odds to readers of legal age across multiple sports through Yahoo Sportsbook. It also offers fantasy leagues at Yahoo Fantasy Sports.
The Yahoo Sports mobile app grew visitors by more than a third (38 per cent) year-on-year in December, according to Comscore mobile figures shared by Verizon.
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