Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) may be attempting to keep users from switching to other e-mail services.
Yahoo has turned off its e-mail forwarding feature in its effort to keep users from leaving its service. This change makes it so that users can’t have their e-mails sent to YHOO forwarded to another e-mail address. The company said it shut the feature off to improve it.
Yahoo’s claim of wanting to improve its e-mail forwarding feature is likely a load of bull. The company is negotiating to be acquired by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and is most likely trying to keep users. This could help it better position itself in the negotiations, reports TechCrunch.
Those with a Yahoo e-mail address that already had e-mail forwarding turned on can continue to use it. However, those that haven’t are out of luck, for now. The tech company did say that it plans to bring the service back after an update. Whenever that will be.
Those still using Yahoo Mail that are looking to switch do have an option available to them. They can turn on the vacation feature that will reply to e-mails with an automated message. Adding new e-mail information in this message can help contacts update to a new address.
Yahoo’s decision to temporarily shutoff its e-mail forwarding feature comes after the company suffered a huge data breach. The account information for over 500 million users was stolen in 2014 and only recently discovered. It included hashed passwords, names, encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers, and more.
YHOO stock was down 2% as of Tuesday afternoon.
