Yahoo lucks out; Mexican court chucks $2.75B damages award
After a Mexican civil court ruled that Yahoo had to pay $2.75 billion in damages in a breach of contract lawsuit, a superior court reverses the decision and lowers the amount to just $172,500.
A Mexican court ruled last November that Yahoo and Yahoo Mexico had to shell out a whopping $2.75 billion in a lawsuit over a yellow pages listing service's lost profits. On Thursday, Mexico's Superior Court of Justice reduced that number to a mere $172,500 in damages.
This is likely welcome news to the tech company. Damages of $2.75 billion is a huge portion of the company's revenue -- in Yahoo's most recently reported quarter, it only generated $1.07 billion in revenue.
The lawsuit was originally filed by the Worldwide Directories and Ideas Interactivas, which claimed breach of contract, breach of promise, and lost profits arising from contracts related to a yellow pages listings service. In November, the 49th Civil Court of the Federal District of Mexico City sided with Worldwide Directories and Ideas Interactivas and slapped Yahoo and Yahoo Mexico with $2.75 billion in damages.
Apparently, the dispute involved a business venture formed by the companies between 2002 and 2004 for an online business search. The agreement was supposed to last until 2009, but Yahoo canceled the deal, allegedly causing Ideas Interactivas to go bankrupt.
The Superior Court's ruling on Thursday could be appealed by Worldwide Directories and Ideas Interactivas. Yahoo has maintained that it believes the claims are without merit.
When contacted by CNET, Yahoo declined to comment on the matter.