14 per cent of Yahoo staff to be retrenched
Struggling US internet company Yahoo! is planning to slash around 2,000 jobs, or 14 per cent of its workforce, marking the first move by new chief executive Scott Thompson to restructure and overhaul operations.
Confirming moves to reshape the company for the future, Thompson in a statement Wednesday said, "Today's actions are an important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo! smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require."
The restructuring of operations will see the company focusing more on its core businesses and redeploying resources to priority areas namely the platforms that support those core businesses, the data that drives deep personalization for users and return on investment (ROI) for advertisers.
Thomson is betting on being able to sell more advertising through astute analysis of the personal information that it collects from the roughly 700 million people who visit its website each month.
"Our goal is to get back to our core purpose putting our users and advertisers first and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal," said Thompson. "Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they've contributed to Yahoo!."
The company estimates it will annually save about $375 million after the layoffs are completed later this year.
The housecleaning marks Yahoo's sixth mass layoff in the past four years under three different chief executives.
This one will inflict the deepest cuts yet, eclipsing a cost-cutting spree that laid off 1,500 workers in late 2008 as Yahoo tried to cope with the global financial crisis.
The previous purges under Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and his successor, Carol Bartz, boosted earnings.
But trimming the payroll did not reverse a revenue slump, which has disillusioned investors yearning for growth at a time when more advertising is flowing to the internet.
The company currently expects to recognize the majority of an estimated $125 to $145 million pretax cash charge relating to employee severance in its second quarter financial results. The company may incur additional charges in connection with this action.
The announcement comes ahead of the release of its first quarter financial results on April 17.
Even as around 2,000 more jobs are being eliminated, the company is expected to hire more specialists in mobile technology to help it improve the products catering to smartphones and tablet computer in order to expand its reach.
Source: Central America News.Net
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