Yahoo!: Layoffs Coming Soon?
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | January 21, 2008 | Share This
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According to the Silicon Alley Insider, Yahoo may lay off as much as 20% of its workforce. SAI reports CEO Jerry Yang is allegedly waiting to see what happens with Yahoo’s stock after the company’s Q4 2007 earnings call on January 29, while TechCrunch says the decision will be announced two days before the call. Whenever (and if) they are announced, impending layoffs would likely be due to Yahoo’s declining stock price. As of Friday, Yahoo’s stock was at its lowest point in two years:
TechCrunch also reports Yahoo has already asked some employees to turn in their laptops, though that’s not technically a lay-off but rather part of a re-org. From SAI:
The decision to go ahead with lay-off is said to be largely dependent on stock price: Yahoo’s stock trading in the low $20s has gotten Jerry’s and president Sue Decker’s attention. Jerry will feel vulnerable if the stock goes into the teens and will try whatever he can to prop it up. He’s not ready to give up the CEO job, sell-out, or shop the company around at this point.
PaidContent.org has a statement from Yahoo that confirms they will be making big changes, suggesting that as many as 2,400 employees are now sprucing up their resumes (Yahoo has approximately 12,000 employees):
“Yahoo! has embarked on a multi-year transformation that includes making tough decisions about the business to help the company grow. Yahoo! has focused its efforts to support its strategy to become the indispensable starting point for consumers, advertisers, publishers and developers. Yahoo! plans to invest in some areas, reduce emphasis in others, and eliminate some areas of the business that don’t support the Company’s priorities. Yahoo! continues to attract and hire talent against the company’s key initiatives to create long-term stockholder value.”
Yahoo has just improved its search project by integrating Delicious bookmark data and tags in its search results and The Next Web notes that the company is still the top online news source, has a $27 billion market cap. Layoffs, though they’ll definitely be painful for employees, should help Yahoo boost its image in the eyes of Wall Street, and it will be interesting to see exactly where the cuts are made.
Topics: Investment, M&A, Yahoo! |
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That is horrible news for all at Yahoo. I wish them the best.