Yahoo to close North America auction site

Yahoo Inc. will close its online auction service for North America next month, signaling the Internet powerhouse’s intention to focus on more profitable endeavors as it tries to snap out of a financial malaise.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s auctions in the U.S. and Canada will end June 16, although some tools will remain accessible until Oct. 29.

The closure won’t affect Yahoo’s auction services in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

Yahoo is retreating from North America’s auction market nearly nine years after launching the service.

Yahoo attracted less than 0.2% of the U.S. traffic to auction sites during the week ended May 5 compared with nearly 85% for the longtime market leader, San Jose-based EBay Inc., according to Hitwise, which tracks Internet trends.