Yahoo May Cut 5 Percent of Its Staff
By VERNE G. KOPYTOFFYahoo, the beleaguered Web portal, plans to cut up to 650 jobs as soon as Tuesday, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
The layoffs come as Carol A. Bartz, Yahoo’s chief executive, tries to reduce costs amid sluggish growth in Yahoo’s online advertising business. They would be the latest in a series of purges at the Sunnyvale, Calif., company over the last few years.
Kim Rubey, a Yahoo spokeswoman, declined to comment.
The expected cuts, representing up to 5 percent of the overall workforce, are aimed at Yahoo’s products unit, according to people briefed on the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The product group, which designs and builds consumer and advertising services, is led by Blake Irving, a former Microsoft executive who was hired by Ms. Bartz eight months ago.
Yahoo had 14,100 employees at of the end of October.
Ms. Bartz is trying to reinvigorate Yahoo, which has suffered from years of excessive bureaucracy and lack of innovation. The company failed to capitalize on social networking – a niche now dominated by Facebook – and lost its battle with Google in search.
To cut costs, Ms. Bartz handed over Yahoo’s search engine and related advertising system to one-time rival Microsoft. She also teamed with third parties to handle Yahoo’s dating, job listings and real estate area. Meanwhile, Ms. Bartz has tried to build on Yahoo’s strengths by adding editorial staff to its media properties and inviting amateurs to contribute news articles.
Investors are putting intense pressure on Ms. Bartz, who took charge of Yahoo nearly two years ago, to show results. But she has repeatedly said that it will take some time before the company makes significant progress.
The layoffs come as Carol A. Bartz, Yahoo’s chief executive, tries to reduce costs amid sluggish growth in Yahoo’s online advertising business. They would be the latest in a series of purges at the Sunnyvale, Calif., company over the last few years.
Kim Rubey, a Yahoo spokeswoman, declined to comment.
The expected cuts, representing up to 5 percent of the overall workforce, are aimed at Yahoo’s products unit, according to people briefed on the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The product group, which designs and builds consumer and advertising services, is led by Blake Irving, a former Microsoft executive who was hired by Ms. Bartz eight months ago.
Yahoo had 14,100 employees at of the end of October.
Ms. Bartz is trying to reinvigorate Yahoo, which has suffered from years of excessive bureaucracy and lack of innovation. The company failed to capitalize on social networking – a niche now dominated by Facebook – and lost its battle with Google in search.
To cut costs, Ms. Bartz handed over Yahoo’s search engine and related advertising system to one-time rival Microsoft. She also teamed with third parties to handle Yahoo’s dating, job listings and real estate area. Meanwhile, Ms. Bartz has tried to build on Yahoo’s strengths by adding editorial staff to its media properties and inviting amateurs to contribute news articles.
Investors are putting intense pressure on Ms. Bartz, who took charge of Yahoo nearly two years ago, to show results. But she has repeatedly said that it will take some time before the company makes significant progress.
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